


Agent 77.

by hayes768



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Woman (Comic)
Genre: Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Found Family, Jessica Drew Has PTSD About HYDRA, Jessica Drew Is Too Old For Peter's Young Crap, Jessica Drew and Bucky Barnes are HYDRA Buddies, Mentor Jessica Drew, Peter Has PTSD About The Snap, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2019-08-21 12:29:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 66,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16576505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hayes768/pseuds/hayes768
Summary: Former HYDRA assassin turned hardworking SHIELD spy, Jessica Drew, begrudgingly accepts a new assignment straight from Nick Fury himself. Protect highschool student Peter Parker.





	1. Along Came A Spider.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had Jessica Drew on the brain for the past few weeks and decided to write how I would introduce her into the MCU with help from Spider-Man. This takes place after Thanos is defeated and life goes back to normal and I don't how Avengers 4 will end, so forgive me if I guess that something happens then it turns out wrong because it most likely will be, consider this as my take on Spider-Man Far From Home, but instead of Maria Hill being Nick Fury's right-hand agent, it's Jessica. There will be mentions of Carol Danvers and call backs to their relationship along with Jessica's origin. 
> 
> When I'm writing Peter I will use American terms and British terms when writing Jessica because she's British. The chapter begins with a parallel to Captain America Civil War and the title is an alias used by her Earth-65 counterpart. Feel free to leave comments because it warms my heart when you do, and I pose an interesting question in the end notes of this chapter.

* * *

Deep inside a secret HYDRA mountain base, a young girl continues her intense training using her Venom Blast ability with viscous precision as a sinister man approaches her from behind with a small red leather notebook with a golden spider in the cover and without warning, he begins reciting words from the book, causing the girl to freeze instantly like she's trapped in a spider's web. "Evergreen. Wundagore. Crimson. Daughter. Nineteen. Measure. Rhythm. Seven. Spiral. Peaceful."

"Ready to comply." The girl says emotionlessly as the HYDRA brainwashing takes over completely. From there, the girl is given a classified file containing her next assassination target, which happens to be a well put together, yet grizzled African American man with a stern look in his one remaining eye.

"Welcome back, 77. Your new mission is to assassinate Nick Fury as he accepts his Nobel Peace Prize on the stage outside the United Nations Building. Understood?"

"It will be done." The girl promises with her whole heart, yet her tone remains emotionless.

Suddenly, the warm, welcoming HYDRA facility transforms and a bitter cold enters in its place as Agent 77 finds herself dead center in the middle of a especially harsh New York winter, snowflakes are the only comfort as she lays her stomach down on a high rooftop and peeks through the sniper scope to find her target admist a plentiful crowd gathering for the Nick's ceremony.

Upon finding her target, the scene moves forward dramatically and Agent 77 is now face to face with Nick on stage, pistol in hand as the crowd in the surrounding areas have disappeared and fire, ash, and brimstone are left behind along with a stream of stinging tears rolling down the young girl's face.

"You don't have to do this." Nick says calmly, raising his hands in surrender and approaching her slowly, his only eye never leaves hers even when Agent 77 points the gun at his heart. "Whatever Hydra has done to you, we will fix it together and make you better, I promise you. Just hand over the gun, then everything will be okay."

For a single moment in time, Nick and Agent 77 remain perfectly still and one would be remiss in thinking the world stopped spinning as well. Eventually, Agent 77 struggles to hold the lightweight gun in her hand as if it weighs a mountain before she drops it and runs into Nick's arms for comfort against the evil HYDRA monster and their brainwashing. She can't help it when more tears stream down her cheeks when being held in Nick's arms, not tears over what she's done, but how Hydra stole her childhood.

After the incident with the Skrulls a year earlier, Nick takes this strange moment in stride and hugs the girl back. "It's going to be okay now, you're safe, I'm not ever going to leave you. Is this your first time to New York? Because you haven't seen anything yet. Stick with me and I'll show you all the sights."

Agent 77 always despises that dream, no, that isn't her name. Jessica always despises that dream, it reminds her of a time in her life she tired to drown out with booze and partying since she turned 21, but that was about eight years ago and on her twenty-fifth birthday, Nick said she either had to join SHIELD or that would be the end of living off his dime.

So here she is, face pressed against the pillow of her king-size bed while she sleeps soundly in her townhouse flat seconds before the electric alarm clock goes off on the nightstand and without thinking, Jessica smashes the device with her spider strength, then absent mindedly jumps upside down to ceiling with her messy bedhead disrupting her vision in a truly a glorious way to wake up in the morning.

"Seriously, not again." Jessica groans, jumping down from the ceiling and grabbing the broken clock to see what can be salvaged this time. The pieces are more solid, but she hasn't had enough coffee to figure how to put them back together in her tired state, leading her to throw away the pieces and take another clock from a drawer full of them where she realizes how late for work she truly is upon plugging in the new one on the dresser.

"Shit! I can't be late, Coulson would kill me!" Jessica sprints through her flat as fast as possible, grabbing the appropriate work clothes scattered around and sticking to every surface in order to dress herself out of the view of her laptop camera in case Phil decides to call earlier than expected. Luckily, she plops down on the couch with enough time to login using her SHIELD credentials. "Agent 77-54-91. Drew, Jessica M, reporting in."

She is met by Phil Coulson, who has an expression great displeasure on his face from the other side of the screen. "You're late, and still have bedhead, I see."

Jessica scoffs loudly. "And I see you're still rocking the school principal look. Y'know, there's a time difference between where I am in London and wherever you and your marry band of SHIELD Agents are now? It's like six A.M here. Anyway, is there word from Carol?" She asks, hating how her cheeks blush red with love whenever Carol is mentioned in any capacity.

"No, she's still on Nick's secret space mission to protect Earth, but Nick said she'd be back very soon. Sorry I don't something more concreate for you. It's funny you should mention school because that's your new assignment, or more actuarially, he is." Coulson's image moves to the side and a digital file pops up containing the picture of a optimistic brunette teenage boy as he tries making a goofy face for the camera in his official SHIELD photo.

"His name is Peter Benjamin Parker, age: 16. He attends Midtown School of Science and Technology, his hobbies are comic books, robotics, being apart of the school's academic decathlon team, and being the Avenger known as Spider-Man, which is where you come in because the team is traveling to London for an upcoming international competition and you're going to pose as a teacher who meets them at the airport to protect him."

"Are you serious right now?" Jessica asks with a laugh, expecting Coulson to be kidding when his face remains stern. "Please tell you're kidding? My cover says I'm supposed be a lethal MI6 operative, not a glorified babysitter for some kid who appears unable to take a proper photo! Is everyone punishing for knocking out Agent 37 the last time we were assignment together? Where's Nick? I want to speak with him."

"I'm here, Jess." Nick's video image appears on her laptop and he is cooped up in the same secret underground he's a been in since SHIELD fell, he gives Jessica a loving and parental smile before getting down to business. "This mission is very serious and it comes directly from me. Ever since Parker was instrumental in stopping Thanos, he's become an important asset to us and we just want to make sure he doesn't get into any trouble while on this trip. Please Jess, you know your my best agent for this mission."

"No, I'm the closest." Jessica corrects bluntly. "Did you forget I was in the fight against Thanos, too? I thought when I took over your operations after you and Maria were dusted, you wouldn't sideline me anymore? I'm no longer a little girl, pops!"

Nick glares daggers at Jessica because she knows he hates that nickname, but he softens when she tries giving an innocent smile. "Look, while you are the closest agent we have to Parker, you're also the most qualified to protect him and you might get over your fear of kids, who knows? There's three days until the class arrives at Standsted Airport, that gives you time to build a cover and I would suggest going outside for breakfast this morning because a physical copy of this file is in your dead drop location."

"Is my sudden need for fresh air an order from the former director of SHILED, or a nice, suggestive nudge from the man who raised me as his own?"

"Both." He says with a smirk and wink before signing off. "Goodbye, Jess. We'll talk when I can."

The video call ends and Jessica closes the laptop before laying back on the couch with a heavy sigh, her eyes close and she wants nothing more than to head back to bed to begin the day at a more reasonable hour if it wasn't for the tingly Venom Blast providing enough energy to begin the day against her will, but she isn't going to be happy about it.

"Damn it." Her eyes open before she leaps off the couch and does a triple backflip into the kitchen to start an omelette because why walk normally when someone of her skill set has super spider powers from the all of those special serums HYDRA permanenty injected into her bloodstream. After a breakfast of an egg and cheese omelette, coffee to try and make the bitterness go away, and trashy morning talk shows, Jessica is ready to start her day by grabbing her black backpack, then she puts on her black and red leather jacket as she leaps out the window and down the fire escape to the street level garage where she finds a stylish Softail motorcycle waiting.

"Hello baby, Mama's here." She gently runs her fingers along the motorcycle's candy apple red paint job as she grabs a helmet and riding gloves, putting both on by the time she feeling the engines purr beneath her muscular body seconds before she pulls out of the garage knowing today's going to be a good day.

Navigating through London on route to her dead drop spot is easy for Jessica when she knows the city and its different burrows like the back of her hand, sure she's been to New York City once or twice, but this place is her home and she wouldn't want to move anywhere else. First, she stops at her local fish and chips shop to buy a meal for the homeles man staying at a nearby shelter, it's become apart of her daily routine at this point and Jess doesn't mind if it means helping someone in the same way Nick once helped her.

"Hey, Mr. Helmsley, how are you doing today?" She asks, leaving the shop and sitting on the outside steps where he is nursing a cup of coffee that looks like water at this point. "Or, a more accurate question is, how's the coffee this morning?"

"Weak, as always and I'm not even sure it's coffee anymore, but at least it's warm." He takes a slip, then spots the food container in Jessica's hands and a smile quickly forms, but it disappears when she holds it just out of reach. "Hey, what gives?"

"Do you remember our deal?" Jessica asks sternly. "I buy you food better than they serve in this place, and you ask your daughter if you can move in with her family. This goes above your pride, I just want to make sure you're somewhere safe. so, did you call?"

He bows his head and shakes it shamefully. "No, but I will, I will." He stammers out. It's not an answer Jessica would like to hear, but she's too busy today to worry about it right now, so she plops the container in his lap before heading towards her bike as he begins to eat with a question on his mind. "Why do you care about me or anyone in this place?"

"Because I stayed in this place after I quit my hard partying days and before I let go of my own pride to ask for help from my foster dad, so I'm just paying it forward. Have a good one." She winks at him before sliding the helmet's face plate down and racing off towards her dead drop box, which happens to be underneath a small bridge between a park playground and a grassy practice field for a teenage football team.

Jessica sighs while hopping off the bike and walking towards the bridge because she knows why Nick chose this particular spot as her dead drop spot, it's supposed to be reminder that it's never too late to leave SHIELD behind for a more peaceful life maybe with kids, but that was Nick's words and Jessica is in the prime of her life so she doesn't have time to slow down for anyone. 

She looks in both directions around her to make sure no one is watching before jumping up and landing on the bridge's underside where a neatly packed brown paper parcel is waiting for her in a way only she can get to it without being seen. After she is done placing the parcel in her backpack, Jessica jumps for the ground and nearly trips on the football when it lands in her path.

"Oi' lady, can we get our ball back?" A boy demands impatiently with snobbery and outstretched arms, barely seeming to care about how Jessica ungracefully stumbles to her feet. "Come on, must I do everything myself?"

"Here you go." A smirk grows on Jessica's face as she kicks the ball with her spider strength before the boy can walk over to collect it, then she goes towards her motorcycle without looking back to see how the ball lands squarely in the football goal, leaving the kids completely in awe of her badassery. "Damn kids."

Maybe it's because she is a creature of habit, or because she has seen too many spy movies, but Jessica does the cliché thing of making a literal interconnected web of string on the apartment wall once she returns home all centered on her target. She spends the rest of her day studying everything about him, friends and family, hobbies and interests, where he goes to school, his daily routine after school and on the weekends, most of all, his history as Spider-Man.

At the end of her extensive research, Jessica makes one conclusion about him above everything she's learned, Peter Parker is a dork with a past he may not even know about, which helps Jessica build a cover in her head as she takes her laptop and sends an email to Roger Harrington and Principal Morita at Midtown High.

**Dear Principal Morita and Mr. Harrington,**

**My name is Jessica Drew, I'm a well respected educator at Coal Hill School, which happens to be your sister school here in London and I have been told that your Academic Decathlon team is traveling over the pond for a competition. So, if you're in need of another chaperone for the children, I'm always here to help.**

* * *

Halfway around the world, Spider-Man feels the rushing air against his skin through the tiny fibers of his brand new black and red Spider suit as he dives off the Empire State Building into the Manhattan skyline, only choosing to fire a web to save himself mere meters from the ground because he believes if there aren't knots in your stomach when moving fluidly around the city, then he isn't web swinging right.

There's only one thing Peter loves about being a high school student and superhero at the same, it's that he can go off-campus for lunch now that he's a junior, meaning more time in the suit helping the people of the city he loves and more time to work on his quips to taunt bad guys, but that's just between him and Karen.

"Alright Karen, I got one, So I leap in to stop the criminals and they're like 'where'd you come from?' I'll be like 'oh, I was in the neighborhood, I guess you can call me your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!' I don't know, does that sound totally lame?" He asks while preforming a wall run off a building that transforms into a spiral move through the legs of a nearby water tower. 

"Yes, totally lame." She agrees in the same way she always does, but her voice has a liveliness and care to it. "But maybe the quip will work better in practice, how about you test it out on the next bad guys we fight?"

"Thanks Karen, you always know exactly what to say to make me feel better. Sure we can do that, but there doesn't seem to be much crime around at lunchtime... hang on, I think I see something." Peter lands on the side of a brownstone building a few stories high so Michelle Jones can't see him as she enters an abandoned building through an outside door. So, Peter decides to follow, his eye lenses narrow while he watches her climb the stairs to a level with graffiti covered walls, then she takes a can of spray paint out of her back pocket and shields her nose and mouth with a bandana before she begins adding her style of art to a free space.

"What you doing here, MJ? Everybody knows never to come in this part of town if you want to live without stab wounds." He says to himself in a whisper before taking to Karen. "Can you please listen in, Karen? I need to need to know if she's okay." Just normal punk music what he hears coming from Michelle's art space, but when Peter climbs a single floor higher, he hears something he shouldn't have.

"Yo, Quentin, you got the money for my product?" Asks a drug dealer while approaching a man in his mid to late thirties with brown hair and a thick beard to match, who appears to not have showered in days, but he is still well dressed and put together. Quentin takes a messy wad of cash from his pocket, but the dealer's face falls into a frown and Peter can tell it isn't enough. "You know this LSD isn't cheap, right? And if you wanna keep buying the good shit from me, then you gotta pony up more cash."

The dealer begins walking away, thinking their business to be concluded until Quentin calls back desperately. "Come on, man. Please give me something, this is the last of my cash without selling off my memorabilia from my old studio, you know I'm good for it, otherwise I wouldn't be coming back."

"Take it and get out of here before I change my mind." The dealer throws the LSD packet on the floor and watches with a small measure of delight as Quentin dives for it. Having Quentin hold the drugs in his hands is all Peter needed to see to swing through the window and begin throwing down with the dealer, who yells something at Quintain over the gunshots of his pistol. "You better not be wearing a wire because when I'm done killing this Spider-Clown, I'm coming after you!"

Quentin dives for cover, but that doesn't seem to matter to the dealer when he stops firing at Peter and finds a new target instead when hearing a spray can hit the floor as Michelle stands in the doorway completely petrified. She may talk like she doesn't care to her friends and family, but she does care so much and she doesn't know what to save herself now until the dealer forcefully grabs her by the shirt and drags her toward the window before shooting the glass leading to the outside.

"Okay, hey, everyone calm down. Ma'am, everything's gonna be fine, just give me a second to deal with this guy and I'll get you out of here safely." Spider-Man says in a calm Queen's accent to Michelle while raising his hands in surrender to lure the dealer into a false sense of security before firing his web-shooters at his arms to pull him to the floor with such sudden force that it causes Michelle to tumble out the window unknowingly.

"Oh yeah, that was way too easy." He says as he begins dancing and celebrating before realizing what happened with the help of Michelle's screams. Without a second thought, Peter webs the unconscious dealer to the floor, then dives out the window in one continuous motion, wrapping his body around hers so she won't get whiplash while he fires a line to save both of them, which leads them to the safety on the ground and causes Peter sweat under his mask at how close her hold on him truly is, to the point where he can feel her breathing on the mask and her heartbeat thump so close next to his own. "Ma'am, we're safe now, you can let go of me if you want."

Michelle's tightly shut eyes slowly open and she sees her feet planted on the sidewalk, so she swift pushes herself off of Spider-Man and clears her throat in effort to regain her tough exterior, but she still like a lovestruck teenager around Peter's alter ego. "So we are... Thank you, Spider-Man. First we see each other in D.C, now in New York. I would say we have to stop meeting like this if our meetings weren't so romantic."

"Yeah, they are." Peter says, blushing again. "I mean, for me, I don't know if you're allowed to date or what your situation is. It would cool to date you because you seem very nice and pretty, anyway, you might want to get yourself checked out after that fall or call someone to take you to the hospital instead. I gotta go, bye." He waves, then raises his hand and fires a web in any direction in the hopes it will go taut and pull him away this awkward conversation.

He is barely out of earshot when Michelle's contact picture pops up on his heads-up display and Peter answers with a tone of slight concern while trying not give any clue to who he is. "Hey MJ, How are you? I thought I wouldn't hear from yo-"

"Shut up, Pete." Michelle quickly and abruptly shushes him into silence then continues on with a tone of pure giddy excitement. "I have bigger news that whatever you're about to say, are you ready to hear this? I fell out of a window and I was rescued by Spider-Man! Can you believe it?!… Wait, why do you sound weird?" She asks, taking note of how Peter's voice is muffled with his masked on.

"Um, I'm going through the Lincoln Tunnel, must be bad cell reception." Peter silently curses at himself, of all the tunnels in New York, why did he choose the one leading to New Jersey? "Did I say Lincoln? I meant, I'm riding the subway back to school after going home to have lunch with my aunt."

"Well, wherever you are now, remember that we have to be back at Midtown Tech for our Academic Decathlon meeting in fifteen minutes, and try to be a little early because I want to tell you and Ned all about my encounter with Spider-Man." She says, unable to help it when a gleeful squeal slips out.

"Got it, on my way back now." Peter sighs with heavy relief as the phone hangs up, then he swings over the building he just saved Michelle from on his way back to school with an unsettling feeling in the back of his mind like he's being watched because unbeknownst to him, Quentin watches on from the broken window with a smirk of opportunity finding its way onto his lips.

Quentin Beck hasn't achieved much in his miserable life, but he attend Juilliard on an alethic scholarship, so he climbs the stairs to the roof before easily using a mixture of his track and parkour skills to keep with Spider-Man's web trail from a far without the hero's notice until he is led back to a building overlooking an alley right next to a high school, then Quentin watches on with great intrigue as Spider-Man changes into civilian clothes with the mask being the last item to be removed, revealing himself to be nothing more than a teenage boy.

"Hey kid, I have a proposal for you." He shouts, taking Peter by surprise as Quentin jumps down to the street using his skills, he can see the boy visibly begin panicking when he explains his scheme. "I am an actor, well, a washed-up actor, but I have a way to get back on top and you're going to help me. Here's the plan, I have a costume at my place and a minor in special effects, and you have your costume and talents, so I'm thinking we meet up occasionally and stage fight as a superhero and villain, then somebody films it to put on YouTube. Hopefully, a casting director will see it and put us in their next picture, but we have to play it like a real fight, what do you say?"

Peter just stands in the alley confused as whether he take this man up on his insane offer, or laugh in his face for even suggesting it because the last he chose fame and fortune over responsibility, he lost good people he cared about. "Look, I'm sorry about your luck right now, but Spider-Man isn't some party trick for me to just on and if I'm not a hero, innocent people will get hurt. Now, I have to go and if there's any decency to you all at, then please don't tell anyone my secret."

He waits for the gentleman to give a frightened nod, then he sprints out of the alley towards Midtown Tech as fast he can so he isn't late for the meeting, leaving a devested Quentin behind. In truth, he isn't much of a fighter and he didn't want to get the same treatment as the drug dealer, but he would be damned if he allows this golden opportunity slip through his grasp. So, he uses the end of school day to his advantage by slipping inside unnoticed with every student flooding outside providing the perfect cover.

Quentin finds it incredibly easy to walk through the hall as just another parent to pick their kid, he finds it even easier to slip into the janitor's closet for a pair of coveralls, beanie cap, and mop bucket before walking out to clean the hall like nothing happened at all, whistling a jaunty tune to himself when another janitor rounds the corner and spots him.

"Hey, you the new hire?" He asks, and Quentin nods without turning around. "In that case, Mr. Harrington wants a section of the library for some meeting, so you're up." Instead of answering directly, Quentin just continues whistling and shuffles past the janitor with his head turned down. When he arrives at the library, Quentin sees Peter and the girl from earlier talking with another heavy-set boy at a table nearby, the boys seem to be putting on false expressions of excitement while the girl is very animated in her movements as she tells a story.

"So, there I was in my art studio this afternoon when I hear this commotion from a floor above, which happened to be drug deal between two degenerates and I would be dead in the middle of everything if it wasn't for Spider-Man swinging in to save me and deal with the criminals in spectacular fashion, I might add." Michelle has a wide on her face as the story finishes, but it disappears when she reads Ned and Peter's shared expression of disapproval and worry. "What? I called the cops and reported the incident, those criminals are probably being booked as we speak."

Peter is first to reach across the table and take her hand in his, the worried expression never leaving his face. "It's not that, MJ, we just think there has be a better place to practice your art than a building where a drug deal can literally happen above your head. Perhaps, we can spend some time soon and I help you find a new, safer place."

As quick as Peter took her hand, Michelle is even quicker to pull it away in disgust of the idea. "Yeah, I agree it's unsafe, but the building is extremely quiet for me to work on that's close to my house and away from prying eyes so no can judge me or my art. Now, here comes Mr. Harrington, grab your permission and fee for the field trip." She says, watching their teacher enter the library before she digs into her backpack for what is needed for class.

Everyone takes out their permission slips as the teacher walks by to collect them, expect for Peter, who stares down at the table in a saddened daze until Mr. Harrington interrupts him with his presence and forces the boy to answer. "Um, my aunt signed my permission slip, but I still can't go, I don't have the money for the 235 dollar fee. I'm sorry for letting the team down yet again."

Mr. Harrington pulls a tablet computer out of his bag and furiously types away when his face contorts in confusion in response to Peter's claim. "Huh, if you can't go, then why did I receive an email with a bank attachment for exact amount of money for your fee?" He turns the tablet around and shows Peter an email from Tony Stark. **For Peter Parker, enjoy the trip. -T.S.** "You must have a generous benefactor."

With all of the financial hurtles out the way, Peter breathes in relief as Mr. Harrington walks to the center of the tables where his students sit waiting for class to begin. "Alright, now that I have everyone's permission slips, I can explain the details of the trip, then you all can go home and pack because I'm canceling class for today. The flight takes off at six A.M tomorrow morning, make sure to be on time or we're leaving without you. After landing in London, we'll meet another teaching chaperone named Ms. Drew, she'll will take us to the hotel close to where the competition is held, so make sure to study because you'll be representing Midtown's best and brightest out there. Class dismissed."

Quentin goes over the teachers plan for London in his head as he walks home. Although, he doesn't know why he bothers anymore when there's nothing or no one to come home to, no wife to love and cherish or children to impart his wisdom on, and his parents stopped caring about him when he moved out to the city and decided pursue acting as a career path. He just has an apartment full of movie junk from days gone by.

"Hi honey, I'm home." He jokes to no one but himself upon entering his empty apartment before sitting on a musty, old couch with a heavy sigh. He takes the LSD from his pocket and debates taking to get some of the thrill he experienced in his acting days back, but he throws it away in disgust because nothing can compared to the thrill he experienced today with Spider-Man, leading him to stand and punch the glass frame covering one of his movie posters.

As he stares at the blood squirting from his hand, then at all the expensive movie memorabilia just gathering dust around his apartment, Quentin comes up with a truly dastardly plan to buy a plane ticket to London and get revenge on the naive boy who doesn't see a good opportunity is when it's presented to him, but he is going to be damn sure the kid listens a second time, by any means necessary.

After a long day of grueling school, Peter is able to swing home as Spider-Man with a gracious smile on his face beneath his mask over what Tony has done for him and the universe must see his smile because Stark soon shows up on his display with a call. "Hey kid, I don't want to take up too much of your time, I just wanted to ask if your school received the payment for your trip to London with the Academic Decathlon team this morning? You've been talking about this trip non-stop for weeks, so I wanted to make sure you had a chance to go."

"Yes, they did." Peter confirms. "Thank you so much, Mr. Stark, the gesture and trip really mean a lot to me, but aren't I needed in New York since being promoted to a full-time Avenger?"

Tony chuckles quietly, admiring Peter's enthusiasm. "With all the other heroes in New York nowadays, you can afford to take a few days off and you should because you're also a full-time student. Besides, you're young and this is a good opportunity to get some milage on your soul and this international competition looks good on college applications. So, have fun, eat well, and bring me back a souvenir." He adds in hastily before hanging up just in time for Peter to land on the roof of his apartment building.

He doesn't know why he changes back into his street clothes before heading inside to see May, but it keeps up the illusion of normalcy between them that was lost ever since his super scary and secret double life was discovered months before the dusting that temporally claimed his life. Peter shoulders his backpack and closes his eyes to push down memories he'd rather forget.

"Hey kiddo, you're home earlier than usual." May briefly glances up from the cookbook she's intently reading on the kitchen counter and greets her nephew with a smile when Peter walks in the door. "How was school today?"

Peter is very careful with how to describe his day to May and he doesn't dare tell her about Quintain's strange proposal out of the fear that she'll freak out more than usual when she is told about his heroic feats. "Um, just normal, nothing really happened except Mr. Stark paid the fee for my trip to London, will you help me pack after you're done with whatever you're trying to make? The flight takes off early tomorrow morning."

"Sure, and for your information, I'm trying to come up with a recipe for dinner to rival my famous wheat cakes, but nothing is coming to mind so how about we pack over an order of Chinese food." She closes the book and sets it aside in a huff of annoyance before looking down at the counter to ask her next question. "We'll make sure everything you need for the trip is packed, but are you going bring your other suit?"

The Parker Household is dead quiet with an uncomfortable silence as neither of want to the address the Spider-Man problem between them because doing so is like pulling teeth until Peter choose to speak up first. "Yes, but only for emergencies because you never know what could happen and I want to be ready, I promise to be careful."

May scoffs, placing her hands on his hips and glaring at Peter. "Please, Peter. Don't say that to me when you know it isn't true. Remember that you don't have to tell me what you do as a superhero, JUST DON'T LIE TO ME ANYMORE!" She slams her fist on the counter with tears suddenly streaming down her cheeks, causing peter to reach out and hug her. "Ever since we lost your uncle, I've had this sickening feeling like I'm going loose you, too, and that's grown ten fold now that I know you're Spider-Man. Just don't do anything stupid on your trip and call me immediately if you do."

They stay in each other's arms for another moment to breathe, then May goes into the kitchen and grabs the phone they can order dinner while Peter stands frozen where he is, his mind in deep thought. "Wait, do you want me go on this trip? I mean, Ben passed a year ago and I know we're still grieving, so do you want me to stay behind and help you around here? I can still cancel."

May walks back and kisses Peter's forehead, feeling pride for her nephew. "You're a good man, Peter Parker, some would say too good. I'm not some dottily old lady who's geriatric and who constantly needs your help around here, I can look after myself, which is why I'm going send you on this trip because no one is going to be able to hold you back. I think your Parker Luck is about to change, Pete."

Early tomorrow morning, Ned impatiently taps his foot on the floor of the airport terminal he's sitting in as he waits for Peter to show up with the knowledge of their flight to London about to take off in the immediate future. Finally, Ned's impatience grows to the breaking point and he decides to stand up, then paces back and forth while leaving his friend another voicemail. "Come on, dude. I thought you said web-swinging is the fastest way to travel, so where are you? The flight has to board in five minutes, with or without you!"

His question is answered when he spots Peter with a layer of sweat moving down his pajama covered body all the way to the suitcases in his hands as he runs through the terminal towards the class in a breathless hurry, the whole way. "Sorry, Mr. Harrington, I had a late night and I forgot set my alarm. Did I make it on time?" Peter asks between the deep breathes he takes in, leaning on Ned for support.

"You're lucky, Parker, you made it by the skin of your teeth and it's appears by your boarding pass that you're seated in front of Mr. Thompson." Mr. Harrington ushers the class onto the plane and one glance at the evil grin plastered proudly on Flash's face, and Peter knows this flight is going to be torture. The first time Peter was on a plane, it was to fight Captain America with The Avengers, now he has spend the next 10 hours trying to keep himself calm while Flash endlessly kicks the back of his seat, maybe his aunt was wrong about the Parker Luck.

* * *

Today has been one of equally high dreed and anxiety in Jessica's eyes, and with no sign of stopping any time soon, she takes a sip from her fully caffeinated cup of coffee with one hand while holding a makeshift sign she made with a night of photoshop to draw the attention of the Midtown students in her other hand as she stands in Standish Airport already wishing this mission was over.

Soon, she sees Peter with what she assumes to be his academic decathlon team all walking through baggage claim like a herd of lost deer in headlights and she goes to meet them halfway, so she throws away her coffee, then straightens her hair and posture to seem more professional before greeting the teacher with a pleasant smile and a firm handshake to boot.

"Hello, you must be Mr. Harrington's class, I'm Ms. Drew and it's very nice to meet you all." She says, studying Peter in the crowd inconspicuously from the corner of her eye, who begins to feel increasingly nauseous around her presence.

In truth, Peter's Spider-Sense is intensely buzzing in his ears without end and he can't make heads or tails of this new teacher, Who really is she? What's her angle? Peter is sure he's seen her some place before, but he quite remember where and he wants more time to think about it until Ned takes him out of his own thoughts by placing a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, buddy? Is it jetlag?"

Peter shakes his head and mumbles something to excuse himself to the nearest men's room while Mr. Harrington introduces the class, then goes over the trip itinerary, drawing the attention of Michelle and Jessica, the former of whom continues to observe the boy while in the crowd and the latter decides to follow him. "Mr. Parker, are you alright? Do you need anything?" Jessica asks, standing outside and speaking to him through the door.

Sounds of dry heaving can be heard when she pokes her inside and she from she's read about Peter's abilities, she might have tripped his Spider-Sense, which worries her because she can't reveal who she is, but she also can't keep him safe from afar. Luckily, a man seems to be walking towards the restroom and she is able to get his attention before goes inside. "Excuse me, sir? My friend has fallen ill in the men's room and I was wondering if you could check on him, please?"

"Of course, madam, just watch my bags for me, please?" Quentin asks, setting his suitcases of the floor outside the restroom with Jessica keeping a close eye on them, which gives Quentin a chance to gas her with his own hallucinogenic drug fired from a wrist gauntlet while she's distracted and allowing him to confront Peter completely one on one. "Hello kid, surprised to see me?"

"Can't say that I am, Quentin, and I have to wonder if you're stocking me when I gave my answer to your insane proposal back in New York." Peter is cautious around Quentin because he knows what he is capable of doing, so he sends an SOS text to Ned as his cautiousness turns into concern and anger when he peeks through the swaying door caused by Quentin's fast entrance to see Jessia riving on the ground outside in an emense amount of pain, then Peter begins walking to exit to check on her before Quentin blocks his path. "What did you do to Ms. Drew?"

"Same thing that's gonna happen to you if you don't come with me." Quentin aims the gauntlet at Peter's face and Peter only has seconds to web his hands up before he fires, but it's too late when enough of the gas finds its way into Peter's lungs and nose, causing him to drop to the floor in pain, not physical pain, but the pain of his vision going black with bad memories of days even he has forgotten about in its place.

"Goodbye, son." Peter hears the echo his father's stern voice and the feels ghostly touch of his mother's kiss on his forehead, they were the first people to leave him without reason or explanation and they wouldn't be the last. "Get up, kiddo, you have a field trip today." Next, Peter hears Ben's voice encouraging him to wake up on the day of the famed Spider Bite, then Peter tries everything in his power to hold his uncle close when he sees blood pouring from his gut.

"Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good." The last voice he hears is his own. He's back on Titan and his heart feels like it's about beat out of his chest as his eyes look at Tony for answers that they both don't have, he just falls into Tony's arms pleading not to go, pleading not to die because he just a kid and no matter how heroic he feels as an Avenger, he's still a scared kid. God only knows how Jessica is dealing with the hallucinations.

Jessica's whole life has been full of dust and pain, literally. First, came the poking and prodding by HYDRA, then she thought she had found a place to belong in SHEILD before everyone she knew or cared about disappeared in front of her very eyes just because some asshole wanted to collect some rocks. Carol and Nick are bright spots, but even those are fleeting and she is often left alone with those ten words to fall back on, just ten goddamn words. Evergreen. Wundagore. Crimson. Daughter. Nineteen. Measure. Rhythm. Seven. Spiral. Peaceful.

When Jessica wakes up, she does so with a sudden jolt and the feeling of someone holding her hand lovingly. She expects the person to be Nick or even Coulson, but she was never expected Carol Danvers of all people looking like a pure angel on high with the ethereal way her pixie undercut shines in the sunlight coming through the window of Jessica's hotel room.

Suddenly, Jessica forgets how to breathe and so she sits up on the bed using all the strength that she can muster to attack Carol's lips so passionately with her own like the blonde woman will provide Jessica with all the air she needs in a kiss that takes both of them by surprise. Eventually, the magical moment between them has to end and Jessica has to separate for air, but she keeps her forehead pressed against Carol's when speaking in a whisper. "Sorry, I missed you, like a lot, I'm happy to see you again and I'm surprised by your hot new haircut. What are you doing back on Earth? I thought you were in space forming Alpha Flight?"

In response to her question, Carol removes Nick's pager she has that taken to calling 'old reliable' from her pocket and tosses on the bed between them. "Nick called me when he saw your vitals spike through the tracker on your phone, so I dropped everything to make a B-line straight for you because I won't let anyone hurt you, the best British person I've ever tasted." She jokes with a proud smile before it falls at the sight of Jessica's annoyed glare. "Sorry, I just missed you, too, but you're probably not in the mood for those types of jokes."

"How long have I been out? Where's Peter?" Jessica forces herself to stand up off the bed and stumble to the nearest sink for some water to clear her parched throat that tastes like blood and a broken mind that seems like the world's worst jigsaw puzzle right now.

"Peter's friend and I found you both near the airport terminal bathroom, I think you were trying to get Peter to safety or trying to go after the person who did this to you two, but he got away. Now the kid who helped me get back here is in the room next door watching over Peter while preparing for an academic competition." Jessica takes that as a que to go check on Peter herself, staggering to the door until Carol calls her back with shocking news. "Jess, they pretty much know about who you are. When we found you, you were repeating your HYDRA code words to yourself, so if the boys don't know already, I'd say they know you're not a school teacher, do you want to set the record straight?"

Neither of them have a chance to respond when they hear Peter's scream from next door and rush in to find him sticking to the ceiling upside down with his eyes closed tightly as Ned tries to calm him down from still experiencing Quentin's very vivid nightmare. Carol can hear Jessica curse under her breath before she uses her spider powers and jumps on the ceiling as well to meet Peter at eye level, shocking Ned with her abilities as she takes his hand and speaks softly.

"If you can hear me, Peter, then please listen. I know what you're feeling because I felt it too, it feels like you're reliving every bad day you've ever had, I know that pain all too well, but those days are long over and you have many more wonderful days to come. Just keep your mind laser focused on those days and you'll get through this, I will be there to help, I swear."

She keeps a tight hold on his hand until Peter comes back to reality with cold sweat running up his face as he recognizes Ned first, then Carol from the fight against Thanos while Jessica remains a total mystery to him, yet he feels strangely connected to her through their shared trauma and spider abilities. "What happened? How'd Carol get here from space? How'd I get here? How do know you and why do you have powers like mine, Ms. Drew?"

Ned is in complete awe of Jessica while she and Peter jumps down from the ceiling, not even noticing how Peter's emotional guard is up. "You're a spider and a woman, like a Spider-Woman."

"Please don't call me that." Jessica says, the annoyed glare returning to her face before she turns to Peter. "I'm definitely breaking protocol with this, but I don't care after the day we've had. My name really is Jessica Drew and I'm not a teacher, I'm a SHIELD Agent tasked with protecting you during this school trip because you're seen as a high value person of interest since the defeat of the purple douche."

Peter scoffs to himself, pacing back and forth around the room as he pieces everything together in his head. "Of course Tony would send an agent to look after me here, he's done a great many thing for me, but he didn't trust me to handle something like this on my own and he never will!"

"Hold on, kid!" Jessica interjects. "Stark didn't give me this assignment, he doesn't even know I'm here. My assignment to protect you came directly from my boss at SHIELD, Nick Fury himself, and I'll complete this mission if I must take one of your Web-Shooters and stick us together. So, what do I have to do in order to gain your full trust?"

"Do you know what happened to my parents?" Peter asks the one question that causes the room to fall dead silent, and with the telling look on Jessica's face, Peter knows to push his inquiry further. "I once found a box in the attic of my aunt's house with a bunch of my parents old things, including their SHIELD badges and when I asked my aunt about them, she shut me down in fear and anger. Do you know anything about them?"

He stares at Jessica intently as if he's pleading with her for answers, then Ned and Carol share a look that says they need to leave in order to give them space to have a proper discussion without outside interruption. "So, you were in space? What was that like?" Ned asks Carol, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Carol chuckles quietly while holding open the door from them to step through. "The short answer is I went to space and adopted an alien cat that I named Chewie, the long answer is, well, how much do you have before your competition today?"

Jessica doesn't answer until she hears the sobering sound of the door shutting and she knows they're alone with no choice but to admit the truth. "I am a high ranking agent and my rank comes with certain privileges and access to certain files such as your parents' and yours, too. Everything I know is in a file back at my flat if you want to have a look, but I want to find the guy who gassed us first before he has a chance to hurt anyone else because those visions were way too real for me."

Peter goes over to his suitcase, still speaking to Jessica when taking out his red and black Spidey suit. "Me too, which is why I put a a spider tracer in my web fluid when I webbed Quentin to the bathroom wall and I think it yielded some promising results. So I want to grab the file at your place on our to way take Quentin in. Now, suit up quickly because I need to be back in time for the competition."

"Is that what you're really going to wear?" Jessica gestures to Peter's suit in pure disbelief and Peter nods with confusion very present on his face, then she snatches it from his hands and folds it back in his suitcase. "No, we're going on a stealth stakeout and you'll stick out like a rainbow piñata in a desert. Luckily, SHIELD has a new stealth suit just for you. Congrats Kid, you just got an early birthday present!"

* * *

Right now, Peter feels extra antsy and it isn't the new fabric of his totally black stealth suit. No, something else is on his mind, something that is beginning to get on Jessica's nerves as watches Peter paces back and forth again while she sits wearing her black and red leather jacket in a relaxed manner against the chimney of the building looking across the street from Quentin's last known location, and the irony isn't lost on Jessica that it happens to be the same homeless shelter from a few days ago.

"This must be a popular spot for vagabonds like me." Jessica can't take her eyes off of the building from her relaxed spot, causing Peter to stop pacing and look at the building himself. "This is going to take awhile and if I knew you were going to be this fidgety, I would've left you at my flat with a take away menu and my vast collection of Doctor Who DVDs. Just sit down, please?"

Peter sighs with the knowledge that she is right and sits so close across from Jessica that their feet are touching before a comfortable silence forms between them that Jessica uses it to her advantage by making a grocery list in head while she begins knitting something she hasn't really come up with yet, only to have Peter ruin it when he asks a question. "I know you, don't I? I think I remember you from Tony's engagement/victory party, were you there?"

"I was." Jessica admits without looking up from her task. "I even saw you in the massive sea of guests sometime after Bucky Barnes and I burned our HYDRA codebooks and before Carol and I split off from the crowd for some private time and let me tell you, we had some good times together and everything was so right in the world that I couldn't help but smile, especially after what we just went through with The... um, The Snap."

"Back when you were calming me down, you told me that you knew my pain because you felt it all too well and that made me wonder where were you during The Snap, Jess?" Peter asks, noticing the change in Jessica's tone like it's a bucket of cold ice water being poured on their heads.

Instead answering Peter's questions, Jessica asks one of her own as she refuses to show Peter the tears streaming down her face. "Do you want to know what I was shown when Quentin gassed me? Loneliness. First, I was a little girl back in that stupid HYDRA base with nothing and no one around me except fire, blood, and ash that I caused, then I was in some SHIELD base trying to get a handle on the whole Thanos invasion when all my colleagues, and everyone I've ever loved or cared about disappeared into dust before my very eyes. Some would say The Snap was hardest on those who disappeared and while there is some merit to that, I believe The Snap was hardest on those who were left behind."

The roof is silent and it gives both of them a moment to breathe after feeling the weight of Jessica's words before Peter speaks up solemnly while picking at some rocks. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. Loneliness must be Quentin's M.O, at least for us, because that's what I felt too. When my parents left, when my uncle was killed, even up to the seconds leading to my dusting, I felt alone. We have to get this guy, we just have to." He demands with anger clear in his voice, not noticing how tightly his fist is clenched, but Jessica does.

"And what are we going to do then, Pete?" She asks, keeping her voice quiet while trying to calm him down once more. "I've seen footage of how you fight and you certainly have talent, that's no question, but talent can only get you so far. Which leads me to ask if you've had any formal combat training?"

Peter hangs his head in shame. "No, not really. My aunt and uncle always taught me it was best to run away from a fight, especially when you're outmatched and my Spider-Sense helps me avoid attacks while also helping by showing the best ways to non-lethally strike someone, but no one really taught me how to fight. It's just talent and luck, like you said."

"Then it would appear your luck is about to continue because you have me. Hop up, lesson one will begin in a moment." Jessica puts her knitting away before standing to her feet and assume a powerful fighting stance with Peter following her lead to the letter. "Good, you have the basics down, now throw a punch into my hands."

She opens her hands and he hits them with not enough force to hurt her, but enough force to impress her. Peter passes every challenge Jessica throws him with flying colors, soon they build a comfortable rhythm with each other so much so that they're able to a new fighting style incorporating their spider powers and once again, Jessica feels like everything is right in the world until it all comes crashing with a bang, not a whimper.

"My God." Is all Peter can say when he watches in horror as the homeless shelter goes up in a fireball explosion that shook the whole block. "You don't think Quentin had anything to do with this, do you?" He looks at Jessica for guidance, but sees that she is already making her off the roof towards the shelter to help. "Jess, what's the plan?"

Jessica doesn't stop running as she speaks to the boy over her shoulder. "Your suit is com-linked to mine so we can talk when we're getting people out of the building and if either of us see Quentin, do not engage until the other person arrives for backup. Now, eyes up, we have people to save."

Most people are doing the smart thing and leaving through the nearest exit as Jessica makes her way inside using her spider agility, but the plumes of black smoke quickly filling the shelter is clouding her vision and making it difficult to breathe. "If anyone can hear me, then call out! I'm here to help!"

"Jessica..?" Mr. Hemsley calls out weakly. From afar, he appears to be trapped underneath a large wooden beam, on closer inspection, Jessica sees how his body is internally hemorrhaging after the way the beam fell and she knows removing it will make his injuries worse, but she does so anyway, surprising Mr. Hemsley with her superior strength when he thought she was just a mild-mannered Good Smartian. "Yo-you're really strong, when did that happen?"

"Among other things." Jessica quips breathlessly, throwing the beam aside before putting his arm around her shoulder and helping him walk to safety. Emergency services have arrived by the time they make it outside and Jessica helps Mr. Hemsley to the ambulance as firefighters work to put out the blaze, then she speaks to the paramedics knowing there isn't that can be done to save her friend's life. "Please, keep him alive, yeah? He's one of the good ones."

The paramedic nods and Jessica leaves him to work as she turns away to check on Peter with her com-link. "Most of the people have gotten out safely on my end. What about you, Pete?" Static is the only thing coming through on the other end, worrying Jessica as she runs back in after him. "Damn it, kid. You better not be where you shouldn't be."

Peter is exactly where he shouldn't be, mere feet away from Quentin Beck as Peter removes his mask and aims his Web-Shooters at the man in case he dare to try anything. "Hands up Quentin, you have many things to answer for and that starts now. Why did you start a fire and do all of this to get to me?"

Quentin has fully snapped by this point and doesn't seem to care about himself or the people he's hurt in the fire. Instead, he just laughs sinisterly as he fixes a domed helmet over his head and fixes his gauntlet to his wrists. "Because, I'm at my wits end with you, boy, I've given everything I have to this partnership and you've given me nothing in return, so I am going to take what I'm owed with your blood!"

He lunges at the boy like an uncontrollable beast with no real goal except to cause Peter considerable pain with his fists while gauntlets spray the hallucination in every possible direction. Quentin is really not a match for Peter's fighting abilities, but that doesn't seem to matter when the air is filled with as much hallucination as smoke, giving Quentin the upper hand as he begins to kick at the boy's side while he is down for the count, leaving him defenseless to attack until Jessica dashes in and kicks Quentin out the window to the street below in a gesture that signifies how tiring this day truly has been.

She doesn't even care if Quentin survived the fall or not, all she cares about right now is Peter as he begins to have a seizure from being exposed a high amount of hallucinagentic drugs in rapid succession, and all Peter cares about right now is someone by the name of May, or at least that's what Jessica hears come weakly from his lips before he tries everything his power to grab his phone from his pocket and give it to her, but it's no use and he passes out with the name falling silent as well.

"May... May... May..."

* * *

"How's he doing?" Jessica asks Carol, coming up behind her in a hospital corridor as they both watch Peter resting with Aunt May and Ned close by in his room through an observation window. She hates seeing Peter so helpless when she was supposed to protect him and she best way she could've done that was to leave him at her flat while she dealt with Quentin herself. "Is Nick angry?"

"Not in slightest, I mean, he's a little angry that your cover was blown, but he's impressed with everything you did to protect the kid, even going so far as to drive to the hospital with him unconscious on the back of your motorcycle so he could got the help he needed in time. You did good, Jess." Carol is quick to kiss Jessica on the forehead and take her into a comforting hug when seeing the look of pure devastation on her face, noticing a SHIELD folder in Jessica's hand from within their embrace. "What's this? Are you digging up dirt on someone new? You are always good at that."

"Oh, it's a file on Peter's parents, I was going to see if he still wants to read it when he wakes up. Speaking of which..." They watch as Peter slowly comes to, then May frantically pulls him into a hug while Ned tells him how the Academic Decathlon team won second place in their competition, and Jessica knows she must say goodbye to Carol with a kiss to her hands before heading inside. "Goodbye, Care Bear."

Jessica enjoys hearing the mortified groan escape Carol's lips from down the hall as she enters Peter's room, only to be met May's fist striking her face before she has a chance to step further. "Who the hell do you think you are, Ms. Drew? My nephew is just a boy, so what part of you as a decent human being thought it was a good idea for him to take hallucinogenic drugs and jump head first into dangerous fires?" May is totally inconsolable, half of her is pounding on Jessica's chest with everything she has, which Jessica can take without compliant, while her other half is screaming obscenities directly into Jessica's face until Peter comes to her defense.

"May, Stop it! She never forced me to jump into that fire, that's something I did on my own and I had no choice in being drugged. So Jessica is completely blameless in this, and I think she's the one who brought me here, right?" He asks, and Jessica nods while her hands are raised in surrender. "Guys, can you give us the room, Please? Jessica and I need to chat."

Once May and Ned leave the room, Peter and Jessica spend a moment in silence with each of them refusing to acknowledge what they had done and what happened to them when Peter decides to bite the bullet. "Thanks for saving me back there, I'm sorry for not listening to you and letting my aunt hit you."

"Oh, don't worry about it, she's got a mean right cross, though... Hey, I got you something." She plops the folder down on Peter's bedside table then plops herself down in May's chair with the expectation that he'll reach for it as fast as he can, but he doesn't, in fact, Peter seems to be actively avoiding eye contact with it out of fear of the answers the folder will bring to light. "What's wrong? I thought you'd be all over this right now."

"I'd rather focus on the mission right now." Peter says hesitantly, pushing the folder away. "So, where's Quentin now? What's our next move to stop him together?"

Jessica sighs gravely, looking down at her hands for a brief second before looking at Peter with the answer. "He survived the fall, but he's in the wind, likely used the last of his funds to travel back to New York and God knows what sort of carnage he'll cause there. SHIELD has frozen all his remaining assets and they're tracking his movements, he'll be easy to catch and if you're serious about continuing our partnership, then we must come up with a plan for next time so neither of us rush into anything we shouldn't be, right, Peter?"

"Right." Peter says with a chuckle, mostly at himself because he knows what Jessica's suggestive tone means. "Quentin's visions and gas are the worst parts about fighting with him, so we need to avoid those at all costs, but I don't see a way to stop him without physical touch when his suit could be laced with his hallucinogens. If only there's some technology or technique to stop him so we're not fighting blindly."

"I know someone who fights blind." Jessica smirks, taking out her phone and furiously typing away to contact an old friend. "He's in your neck of the woods rather than mine and he's another orphan sob story like me, but not nearly as lucky. In fact, Catholic Guilt kind of defines him. So I bet he can help us, l just want to ask, have you ever been to Hell's Kitchen?"


	2. A Blind Man Shall Lead Them.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Backed into a corner and with very little other options, Peter and Jessica seek help from one of her old friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, two things before I kick this chapter off properly,
> 
> 1\. I'm surprised no one called me out on the Dc Comics Easter egg I put in the last chapter when I said Jessica kicked Dick Grayson's ass when he was an agent for Spyral.
> 
> 2\. If you read my tease at the end of the last chapter, then you know where I'm headed, but none of you know my personal connection to the character of Daredevil because we're both physically disabled and while I'm not blind like Matt is, he is very inspiring to me because he may get knocked down a lot, but he always gets back up with his disability helping him make his home a better place for everyone who lives there, and now I'm saddened by the cancellation because Charlie Cox does an fucking amazing job portraying the character and I'm upset that myself and people like me won't get that kind of representation anymore while I also hope Marvel brings Charlie as Daredevil into the MCU proper.
> 
> If anyone cares, here's my favorite Marvel heroes.  
> 1\. Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman.  
> 2\. Matt Murdock, Daredevil.  
> 3\. Dr. Stephen Strange. (I actually have a story idea about Stephen training Wanda Maximoff in magic if you want me to write it.)  
> 4\. Steve Rogers, Captain America.  
> 5\. Peter Parker, Spider-Man.
> 
> I recommend watching Daredevil and The Defenders if you have Netflix because I will reference events that happened in those shows, and the title is taken from Fantastic Four #39 in 1965 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. (Rest in peace, you two legendary and wonderful creators.)

* * *

Peter feels extremely nauseous at the moment, not the good kind of web-swinging nauseous, but the kind of nauseous that comes from riding down the twisting streets of Manhattan on the back of Jessica's nimble motorcycle at an ever increasing speed despite his prayers and protests for this ride to stop.

"Can you please slow down a bit? I'm not even sure you're driving legally." Peter says through his helmet, his pounding head is pressed against the backpack on Jessica's shoulders while his hands are interlocked around her stomach and not anywhere higher or lower on her body as stated in her very explicit instructions.

"Sorry, Pete, I'm not used to having someone ride with me. I'll try to slow down for next time, but you should know that we're here." Everything finally comes to rest when Jessica parks on a side street alongside an apartment building, then she removes her helmet and steps off the bike gracefully like a badass model for a fashion commercial while Peter struggles to hold his lunch down. "You okay, kid?"

Peter doesn't have a chance to answer when he rushes towards the sidewalk and pukes into a nearby trashcan, giving her an answer as she walks up behind him before placing a comforting hand on his back in a scene that vaguely reminds Jessica of her more rebellious pre SHIELD party days. "That's it, buddy. Let it all out, I'm right here if you need anything."

Once Peter is finished, Jessica instinctively hands over a bottle of water for him to wash out his mouth and a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face before he joins Jessica on the sidewalk as they stand in front of their destination. "I've passed through Hell's Kitchen a few times on field trips, but I've never heard of any heroes in this neighborhood, so how do you know him?"

"Matthew Murdock was the lead attorney in the case that final put Wilson Fisk away behind bars for good, so SHIELD felt it necessary to place Matthew and his wife into protective custody during the trial and I was the head agent in charge of the security detail. Although, we didn't leave things on the of terms when I discovered how he and the Missus. spent their nights while the Sokovia Accords are in effect."

Truthfully, Peter had heard about Murdock through watching the Fisk Trial unfold live on the small TV in May's kitchen many mornings before school, but he is a little confused and skeptical as to why a blind lawyer can help them defeat a supervillain with nightmare inducing toxins. "What does that even mean?"

"Meaning, he's much more than just a lawyer, he can help us, I hope." Jessica's tone remains confident in her plan until she glances at the skeptical expression on Peter's face. "Look, kid, it's either we ask him for help or we go down to Bleecker Street and ask Doctor Stephen Strange to blind us with a wacky mystical spell, but I prefer a less permanent solution."

"You know Doctor Strange, too? That's so cool, you're so cool. You're like the type of secret agent I wanted to be when I was five, hell, it's still what I want to be now."

Jessica just chuckles in appreciation of the complement as she reaches over to ruffle Peter's hair. "Thanks kid, but my past is so bloody that I'm not sure if I am someone who you should aspire to be. Stephen first came on SHIELD's radar back in 2014 as one of the targets for Project Insight and we've been watching him from the shadows ever since. I'll tell you what I'm allowed to later, now we have a task ahead of us. You ready?"

Peter nods, and she walks up the porch steps to knock on the front door, then again when the door isn't answered after two solid minutes pass by. "Come on, Murdock, where are you?" She asks herself under her breath while knocking for a third time.

"What?" Jessica Jones asks, seeming unfazed when she answers the door with a sleeping baby in her arms is met by someone who shares her namesake and some teenage kid who seems like he doesn't know how to handle himself. "What are you doing here, Drew? Who's the kid?"

"Can't an old friend just pop by out of the blue to see another old friend? I wanted to know if you and your husband would like to have tea with my friend here." Peter waves at Jessica Jones, only for her for her to give her famous glare of pure distain, so Jessica Drew drops all pleasantries and gets straight to business as she takes a large step back while actively trying to avoid eye contact with brown haired baby girl in Mrs. Murdock's arms. "Where's Matthew? We need his help."

Jessica Jones scoffs at the request. "You need his help? The last time you and my husband parted ways, you nearly beat each other into a coma."

Now Jessica Drew is the one who gives a remorseful look to her namesake counterpart. "I'll be the first to admit that I made the wrong call when I tried arresting your husband once I found out that he is Daredevil. I'll also admit that Matthew has abilities that are helpful in our mission to deal with dangerous threat to this neighborhood and all others in New York, so can you please tell us where he is."

Hearing Matt's name in conversation so often must have upset the baby in Mr. Murdock's arms, leading Jessica Jones to switch her hostile demeanor towards her guests one of gleeful happiness for her daughter while trying to sooth her lovingly. "I know, Isabella, I miss daddy too, but these people will help us. I just need to give them the information, then I can get you warm inside, how's that sound?" The girl gives a slight giggle at the idea. snuggling closer in her mother's arms, then Jessica Jones slides so easily into her previous attitude.

"I don't know where he is, he left Izzy and I at home to fight crime while we slept soundly in our beds last night, and he hasn't come back yet. My guess is that he's held up in St Agnes Church and Orphanage down the road getting patched up with the help of Maggie, and when you meet up with him, tell him to get home quick because Izzy becomes uncontrollably fussy when she misses her dad."

Demining the conversation to be over by her standards, Jessica Jones steps back inside to take her daughter out of the cold and shuts out the people standing on the other side of the now closed door, leaving Peter to wonder if he will be forced back on Jessica's motorcycle until she turns on her heel towards the church. "So, we're not getting back on you're bike yet?" He asks, catching up with her, but keeping a step behind.

"Not yet. Besides, she said the church was just down the road. you can see it from here." She confirms without breaking stride. "And we would only need my motorcycle to chase down Mr. Murdock if he is as difficult as his wife was, but what can you expect when dealing with the devil?"

Only a moment of silence passes between them before Peter asks a question to get on Jessica's nerves. "What's your deal? With children, I mean. Back when we were meeting with that lady, you practically wanted to throw yourself into the path of an oncoming bus when she showed up with her baby. So, do you hate kids?"

Jessica scoffs in disbelief of Peter's claim, but the claim has a hint of truth to it. "No, I don't hate kids, I wouldn't have my master's degree in education if hated kids. I'm afraid of them because they're just too stinky, bratty, and noisy for me to handle. I'm sure that would change if I were to have a kid of my own, but that won't happen because I've got too many of my personal demons to deal with that I'd be a terrible mother to any kid and they deserve better than me."

"Oh, I don't believe that. I think you'd a great mom, Jess, certainly one of the most badass ones there is." Peter catches Jessica off guard and she turns away before begining to straighten out her red leather jacket like it's a shield to protect her from the truth while he explains anyway. "You wouldn't be a typical mother and I think that would be okay because you definitely have the kindness, love, and compassion to become a wonderful one day. At least that's what I get from our relationship, you're like the big sister I never knew I needed in my life. You're even kitting a sweater for me, I hope."

Many things have changed since the fire in London, Carol decided to leave Alpha Flight in the capable hands of her colleagues, Abigail Brand, and return to earth to train and lead a new Avengers team while Peter and Jessica work to bring Quentin in together with their already deep friendship growing as a result,  but if Jessica feels touched by Peter's words, she doesn't show it when crossing her arms with a stony expression appearing on her face. "First, I don't know what I'm knitting or who it is for yet. Second, you're different then most kids, you're easier to deal with and it's my primary job to look after you, which is why we're here for help to stop Quentin in the first place. So, can we keep calm and carry on?"

"Y'know, when you told me that being a teacher was apart of your cover story as a SHIELD Agent, it made sense because you don't peg me as the teacher type."

"Well, I'm full of surprises." She says, not breaking stride. "I guess, I became a teacher because I didn't have a normal childhood or education for that matter, being taught HYDRA's twisted view of the world and all, so if I can help a kid by giving them a normal education, then I might be doing something right."

Peter raises an eyebrow of something that makes Jessica stop where she is and burst out laughing. "I somehow managed to get my degree during my party days at university, I honestly was so hungover at the graduation ceremony at I'm surprised that I got through it without puking on the headmaster. I'm capable of teaching any subject in any grade level, I got my fear of babies when I started out as teaching assistant for a pre-primary school in London, but I mainly taught world history at a high school level before I joined SHIELD."

"How do you mange the whole double secret life thing? I can barely keep up with being a full-time student and part-time Avenger."

Jessica shrugs vaguely. "I don't know. Nick only gives me missions when I'm on school holidays, unless he has a mission requiring my vast skillset or if a giant metal donut shows up in New York to threaten the end of the world, so I have a lot of free time on my hands."

Their short walks comes to an end at the bottom of the church steps for a moment to breathe, then Jessica climbs the steps to open the door for herself and Peter, but the boy stops her before she can. "Wait, before we head inside, how do you want to play this in case this Matt gives us trouble? Good Spider-Cop, bad Spider-Cop?"

"Well, let's not do that, like, any of it, got me?"

As they take their first tentative steps into the church, Jessica is concerned that she'll burst into flames while walking on such holy ground when taking into the consideration of her morally questionable past and the fact that she has a loaded pistol safely tucked behind her for protection in her more morally questionable job she has chosen as a stable career path. Whatever the case is, she moves with extreme caution and takes care to examine the seemingly empty church for any signs of life.

"Does Matt usually go to church this bloody?" Peter asks, noticing a bloody handprint on a stained glass window behind the altar before he crouches down and sees a trail of blood droplets leading to an ajar door marked: **Basement/undercroft.**

"Yes, he does. More often than not. Stay behind me, kid." Jessica pulls her gun out and swiftly meets Peter at the door before standing in front of him in a protective manner with her gun in one hand and the green energy from her Venom Blast ability lighting the way as she takes the lead down the stairs, drawing Peter's attention and awe.

"Whoa, you can do that, too? How? I can't even do that. You never cease to amaze me, Jessica Drew!"

"Parting gift from HYDRA." She says, the shattered remnants of her history with HYDRA passing before her eyes in quick flashes. "They pumped with radiation and a special serum made from DNA from a dozen genetically engineered spiders while I was still developing inside my mother's womb, I was born broken and HYDRA took those pieces to make me the monster I am today like they did with all the others. Bucky got a metal arm and PTSD about a horrific past I'm not even sure he wants to remember at this point, and I got green glowy hand powers and cheated out of my childhood."

Unable to accept her words as fact, Peter plants his feet where they currently stand before he stops Jessica from taking another step by grabbing her hand and forcing her to turn around to face him where she can see his absolutely heartbroken expression. "You're not a monster, Jess. You know that, right?"

"Tell that to the innocent people I've murdered in the name of HYDRA's version of peace and sanity, tell that to me after all the times I've woken up screaming from nightmares wondering if I should use this power to kill myself." Jessica's defensive walls go back up and yanks her hand away from Peter's with her mind returning its focus solely on the mission as they decend the last steps to the basement, where they are met with a similar environment as the empty church above their heads. "Damn it, where is he? He should show himself by now, can you sense anything, Pete?"

Peter scoffs, remaining close to Jessica as they explore the undercroft. "My Spider-Sense isn't something I can turn off and on at will, it just sorta happ-" In an instant, Peter silences himself when he senses an object flying towards them through the darkness and he reaches out to catch a red baton in midair before it has a chance to connect with Jessica's temple. "Well, that's one way to make an entrance."

Matt's voice echoes from the rafters above, but Jessica is unable to pinpoint exactly where. "I've kept track of you since the moment you were on the sidewalk outside so If you're here to arrest me because I won't sign the Accords, then I will have to disappoint you, Jessica. Being Daredevil keeps my family and community safe, I won't let you take that away from me, not after The Defenders kept New York safe when The Avengers flew off into space."

"Your wife and daughter are the ones who sent me here, they miss you, Matthew." Jessica says, keeping her voice calm and her gun at the ready as she paces around where she assumes Matt is. "I'm not here to arrest you, I'm here for your help with a matter and I need to bring back to your family, but if you keep making me angry by throwing things at my friend and I, then I will bring you back to them unconscious."

Matt hears Jessica's steady heartbeat from his hiding spot, but he can't take a chance with the truth when lying comes second nature to her. The sound of boots landing on the ground cause Jessica to  see her target, her mission, Matt Murdock dressed in his red Daredevil gear as he appears bruised and bloody to all sorts of hell like he usually is before drawing another baton from the holster on his leg and a smirk of challenge forms on his face aimed at Jessica herself. "Take your shot."

"Please don't make me do this." Jessica pleads with a tired sigh of reluctance, yet Matt begins to quicken his pace into a sprint and she knows there is going to be a fight because of course there is. Everything she does always ends in a fight, so she hands her backpack and jacket to Peter before charging forward to meet it head on by throwing her baton back in the direction it came, then she fires a round of bullets that Matt dodges easily, but it gives her the distraction she needs as she sides under him and kicks out his knees before she climbs on his back like an ever twisting spider and puts him into a chokehold in effort to knock him out peacefully. "Come on, Matthew. Make this easy on everyone and just give in, please!" 

Matt gasps for breath, but he isn't out of the fight yet as he staggers back and bashes Jessica into a brick wall forcefully enough to disorient her so he can throw her over his shoulder and sends a few quick jabs to her face, causing her face to be cut before he sends a knee straight for her nose to add insult to her already bleeding injuries.

Much like a boxing match, Peter acts as Jessica's coach and aims a Web-Shooter at Matt as a warning to stop him from coming closer as he helps Jessica stand to her feet while also pleading with her to stop fighting. "You have to stop, otherwise whoever this guy is, he's going to kill you."

"He'll stop, I know it." Jessica says in a tone of shaky confedence. "He'll stop just short of killing me because it's not in his character to kill anyone. Now, hide away where it's safe, this could get bloody and I don't want you to be hurt while you're healing from the fire. Please, Peter, do as I say."

Peter appreciates Jessica's duty to protect him, but she can't do that if she's dead or hospitalized, so he slips away unnoticed and get some help with the sound of Jessica and Matt landing hits on one another as he climbs the steps back up the church and strangely finds the door to the darkened head office open as he walks inside. "Hello, is anyone in here?"

His Spider-Sense triggers again and he raises his hands in surrender when a middle-aged nun steps out of the shadows, ready to defend herself against him with the broom in her hands if Peter tries anything. "Sorry, Sister. I don't mean to startle you, I just want to get help stopping the fight going on below us."

The nun sighs, letting her guard down as she grumbles to herself, then addresses Peter. "Oh Matthew, you can be so stubborn some times, just like your father was. You could've stayed hidden to heal while I dealt with the strangers, but did you? No. Come on, son, I'll help you."

From one floor below, Jessica slowly stands to her feet after being knocked down again as she desperately searches around for an advantage against an enemy who can anticipate everything she is going to do, so she has to do something he won't expect by giving him the upper hand and throw her through a glass window into the orphanage section of the church.   

As Matt approaches her lifeless body, Jessica seizes the opportunity by thrusting her legs at his chin, then she preforms a kip up flip to her feet and wipes her bleeding nose clean on her clenched fists before they begin to glow with stinging green energy because isn't pulling her punches anymore after hearing how the Murdock Boys are fighters, so if Matt wants a fight, she will give him one as she goes into round two with a yell of victory until the nun comes rushing into their with Peter at her side and breaks them apart with the broom in her hand.

"Both of you, stop this fight, do you understand? Right now!" After Maggie is successfully able to break the combatants apart with her broom, she gives her son a disappointed glare that makes him shrink away in terror and shame. "God forgive me, but what the hell are you thinking, Matthew? This is a house of worship, not some fight club to beat someone senseless in!"

"Sorry, mom. Sorry Jessica." Matt apologies almost immediately, then silences himself out of respect of the older and wiser woman before him.

"Wait, she's your mom?" Peter asks as he points his finger between Matt and Maggie while trying to hide his snickering laughter before he is alerted to the fact that Jessica needs medical attention when she collapses under the weight of her injuries so he runs to help her sit up. "You alright, Jess? I'm right here if you need anything." He says, mirroring her kind words from earlier.

Jessica nods weakly, allowing herself to fall into Peter's chest for comfort and get his clean gray t-shirt bloody while trying to catch her breath as she knows introductions must be made. "Matthew, this kid is my friend, Peter Parker. Kid, meet Matthew Murdock, AKA Daredevil and I'm also beginning to believe we should've gone to Doctor Strange for help."

* * *

The smell of baby formula and talcum powder surrounds Jessica Drew as she rests on the couch in the living room of the Murdock Family apartment with her head laid back before Peter joins her on the space next to her and gives over the warm cup of tea in his hand. "Here's your tea, I hope it helps because I had to dig through tons of half empty booze bottles in Mrs. Murdock's fridge to find what other drinks they had."

"Thank you, it helps me greatly, you're a good kid. Now, I need like twenty Advil and I'll be just peachy." She takes the bloody tissues out of her nose and takes a sip from her mug before she almost spills the entire drink down the front of her white tank top when she and Peter overhear a hard slap, followed by the unmistakable sounds of a heated argument between husband and  wife coming from the bedroom adjacent to their room.

Matt's cheek still stings as he stares blankly up at the ever changing orange colors and shapes that make up a solid impression of the hot tempted love of his life named Jessica Jones-Murdock, and it doesn't take sight to see the anger and panic on her face as she tries keeping her voice measured for their daughter while also chewing Matt out for his careless actions. "That was only a fifth of strength, Matty, unless you want me to do it again, you will tell me why you violated Stark's pardon that we received after I put on real pants to help them defeat Thanos by attacking someone unprovoked as Daredevil?!"

Matt sits up in bed before rubbing his tired eyes with a scoff of disbelief at Jessica when it is well known that she isn't the most friendly of people in the world. "With all due respect, honey, why do you care about violating the pardon? You've never shown a hint of liking for anyone except me, Isabella, the rest of the Defenders, and Trish. I was just trying to protect my family, like you would've done in a heartbeat!"

"Because I thought this ring you gave me and the daughter we have meant something to you, but I guess I was wrong." Jessica Jones snaps, holding up the wedding ring on her finger in Matt's eyeline while knowing he can sense it. "We've got a good thing going on with Isabella, one of the best things that's happened to us in a long time after what happened with my long lost mother and when you came back from the dead. I don't want to screw that up by making stupid mistakes, so will you please be more careful when you're helping the people sitting outside with whatever they came here for? Maybe start by getting them off my couch and the hell out of my house."

Taken aback by her words, Matt slowly leans in to kiss Jessica Jones in such a way that causes goosebumps to erupt all over her body. Her dutiful husband may be blind and unable to see her hidden beauty, but the lovely way he treats her and their daughter more than makes up for the lost sense in Jessica's eyes. "As you wish." He says, his lips are barely inches away from her hers before he leans down and gives Isabella a kiss on the forehead as well. "Since when did believe in helping people?"

"Most of the times I don't help people unless they're paying first." Jessica Jones rolls on their bed over to Matt's nightstand, where she grabs his classic circular rimmed glasses and slowly places them over his eyes. "But I happened to marry an eternally Catholic optimist, who always sees the ugly world through rose colored glasses, so I'm kind of an optimist by association."

After a few more moments to get dressed for the day alone, Matt and Jessica Jones come out of their bedroom to the sight of the people on the couch keeping themselves busy and acting very nonchalantly like they weren't listening at all when Matt knows it to be the opposite, but he doesn't seem to mind. Instead, he just carries on as if nothing happened at all until Jessica Drew addresses the elephant in the room.

"Do you believe I have pure intentions now? Are we cool?" She asks, not even caring how unprofessional she looks with dried blood on her face.

"I'm sorry for attacking you. I thought you were here to arrest me or harm my family and I couldn't take any chances, I have tunnel vision for them." Matt says, a tone of deep remorse and regret in his voice. "Now, this job you came to me for, do you need my services as an attorney or otherwise?"  

"It's otherwise, Mr. Murdock." Peter rummages through Jessica's backpack for a SHIELD file on Quentin written in brail and hands it to Matt to scan with his fingers as Peter recites a speech like it's been rehearsed. "We need your help to take in a man named Quentin Beck, he's a former stuntman and skilled illusionist capable of creating his own potent form of LSD gas to debilitate and harm anyone who comes in contact with it due to the fact that it causes heartrates to elevate well beyond safe means. So we need to help with him because you're unable to experience his visions because of your... um... blindness." He finishes lamely, trying to be sensitive towards Matt.

"Oh good, so it isn't just me who notices that." Matt jokes with a smile to match before he tone turns serious. "I'll help you two plan and execute whatever you need me to do, just not here in my home, I don't want this to put my family in danger if something goes wrong."

Peter is quick to offer solution to the group while watching Jessica Drew pick tiny shards of glass out of her long, flowing black hair. "May is really nice and she'll give us shelter while we come up with a plan to stop Quentin, it'll give Jessica a chance to get cleaned and bandaged up. What do you guys say?"

The dozen numbing painkillers currently coursing through Jessica Drew's system are making her drowsy and harder for her to focus on anything, much less drive in her sluggish state when she is expected to take the trio to May's place. "Pete, do you have a license? With the way my head is right now and the way my face looks, I can't drive without the cops stopping us with questions that I can't explain quickly."

Peter stares down at his feet as he shifts his weight from foot to foot before he looks up at Jessica and nods. In truth, he received a drivers license a couple months after coming back from the Snap just to keep up appearances as a normal teenager, but he's barely had to use it because Web-Swinging is a more natural and faster form of transportation for him. "Yeah, I can drive, we may not get to Queens alive, but I can drive."

"Works for me, we'll use my wife's car." Matt gives Jessica Jones and Isabella a few kisses goodbye before joining the others waiting at the door without his walking cane or keys and he only realizes his mistake when he is about to step outside for the day, which cause his wife to snicker as she waits for Peter's reaction when Matt asks the boy for help. "You're name's Peter, right? Can you please grab my walking cane and keys? They're on the kitchen counter right next to the Keurig machine where you made Jessica's tea."

"Sure." Peter grabs the items without question and delivers them to Matt in the same mondaine fashion before his eyes go wide upon realizing the truth Jessica's words when she said he is much more than just a lawyer. "Oh, my God! But you're blind, so how did you do whole thing with the keys and the cane? Jess, I thought you said we weren't going to see some sorcerer, what gives?"

Jessica chuckles to herself, grabbing Peter by the shoulders and guiding him out of the apartment through the front door while Matt holds it open for them. "He isn't some magical sorcerer, he's just a blind ninja. I'll everything on the way to your place, but now we're going off an adventure."

The grand, spectacular adventure Jessica had promised was quickly halted fifteen minutes after the trio leaves Matt's apartment and run right smack dab into bumper to bumper traffic with seemingly the rest of New York blocking their path during a lunchtime standstill, which angers Peter to no end as he honks the horn yet again despite Jessica trying to sleep in the passenger seat. "Come on! If you see the space ahead of you free up, then it means you can move into it! So move already!"

Jessica groans and sits up her seat in one fluid motion before she snaps at Peter in tired anger. "Kid, I love you and your propensity for road rage, but I am trying to sleep off some very intense painkillers, so if don't get it under control and I hope that you do, I will have to web you to the roof of this car and take over myself and you already know the kind of driver I am!"

"You love me?" Peter asks with a tone of surprise ringing throughout his voice as a wide smile finds a way onto his face. "I love you too, Jess, in a best friend sort of way. "Does this mean I've broken through your tough exterior to the reveal the truly soft person you are on the inside?"

"Don't make me take it back." Peter's question causes Jessica to groan while she lowers her seat once more and turn towards the window to try finding a comfortable spot for sleep. "If this traffic is giving you trouble, then cut over to the Midtown route by your school, we'll get there much quicker. Just keep your hands at ten and two and drive fast so no one recognizes you."

She reminds Peter of how he is still supposed to recovering from that fire at home as a cover story before Matt stops reading Quentin's file and pipes up from the backseat. "Actually, the law states you're not supposed to exceed speeds greater than 20 MPH in a school zone."

So with Jessica and Matt's words fresh in his mind, Peter's hold on the steering wheel tightens as he slightly increases speed fast enough to hide his identity from those who happen to peek inside the car, but not so fast as to arouse suspicion, only to slam on the brakes seconds later to avoid hitting Michelle and Ned as they walk through the crosswalk together. "Hey MJ, I'm back, what's up?" Peter and Michelle stare at each other in anticipation of what the other will do until Ned pulls her out of the road and allows Peter to speed off.

Michelle stares at the car turn the corner in disbelief of the person behind the wheel before she breaks into a sprint in the car's direction and expects Ned to follow, but he stays where he is. "Come on, aren't you curious about where our best friend is traveling with a bloody t-shirt on and that teacher when we thought she was left in London after the trip?"

Despite her encouragement, Ned's feet don't move as he comes up with an excuse to cover for Peter and Jessica. "I'm not really that curious and I'm sure Peter has good reasons for keeping secrets, we should respect his privacy."

Without warning, Michelle grabs Ned by the hand and pulls him along against his will. "Oh, that's stupid and you know it, where's your sense of adventure? Besides, what kind of big secret could Peter have that he wouldn't share with us?"

Somehow the trio makes back to May's place without anymore traffic incidents and Peter resists the urge to make a quip about the trio walking into a bar given who they are and the current state they're in as he helps Jessica walk inside. "Oh, my god! What happened to you two? Were you jumped?" May demands, rushing to help them inside.

"Yes, but Jessica was a total hero and fended off the attackers when they decided to mug us and a passing lawyer as well. Now, she'll need a shower, some bandages, Aspirin, and ice cream." Peter turns back and gestures back to Matt before taking Jessica into the bathroom. "Aunt May, this is Matthew-"

"Matthew Murdock, I know." She quickly extends her hand, then realizes her mistake and guides Matt's hand into hers in a very gracious and awkward manner. "You must get this a lot, but I just wanted to thank you for being the attorney who finally that Fisk monster away. All of New York owes you a debt of gratitude for making the boroughs safer with him off the streets. Now, why are you here today? Peter isn't in some legal trouble, is he?"

If being Daredevil all these years has taught Matt anything, it's that he has a natural talent for coming up with bullshit lies on the spot. "Oh no, we were just in the same mugging and we got to talking afterwards and he told me Quentin setting that fire while Peter was inside, so I'm here to gather evidence if it's within his right to sue Quentin for damages. In fact, if you're ever in legal trouble, give my firm a call." He senses Peter exit the bathroom as he takes a business card from his jacket and hands it to May before they both turn to face the kid when his footsteps creak beneath the wooden floorboards. "How is Jessica?"

"She's showering now, it'll help after the day she's had, so I guess that leaves the two of us to wait in my room. Come on Matt, I'll lead you to where it is, then I need to go back outside to the car to grab my phone and Jess's backpack because it has some of her spare clothes." He walks over to Matt and offers his arm to hold, but May puts a full garbage bag in his hand instead.

"As long you're going outside, can you please take the trash out too?" She asks, interlocking her arm with Matt's. "I'll help Mr. Murdock to your room and get Jessica the clothes she needs from my closet. Don't worry, friends will be taken care of. Love you, kiddo."

"Love you too, May." As soon as Peter is standing in the hallway, he walks to the nearest window that leads to the dumpster and slides it open, then he checks in all directions to make sure no is watching when he leaps outside in one continuous motion until he uses a front handstand to steady himself in front of his target to dump the trash without any fuss before he heads to front parking lot, where he finds Jessica's finds out that Jessica's backpack has disappeared. 

There are no signs of forced entry, meaning someone just swiped it from the backseat of Matt's car through the halfway rolled down window. He silently checks every corner of the car as he walks around the area of the vehicle, only to be left with lifting it entirely with his Spider Strength as a last resort, but even that yields no results. "I swear to God, I'm going to have to put Spider-Tracers on any backpack I come into contact with if I keep loosing them."

"Looking for something, Pete?" Michelle asks while holding the backpack as she steps out of the shadows with Ned behind her, a look of deep remorse on as his dominate expression. "A better question might be, is there something you want to tell us?"

"How much of that did you see?" Peter is able to set the car down safely despite his heart skipping like ten beats in a row. Aaron Davis was right, he does have to get better at the superhero job and it starts with finding better ways to hide his freaking secret identity.

"Enough to know who you are and why you keep flaking on us, if this wasn't a dead giveaway." Michelle unzips the pack and tosses the red Spidey mask into Peter's hands. "I honestly don't care because if you want to get the crap beaten out of you by criminals, that's your business, but were ever gonna tell us?"

"Actually, I already found out."  Ned says from the background, but he steps away when reading the tense area around Peter and Michelle. "I'll leave you guys to it."

Peter gets lost in his own head looking for an answer because he knows whatever he says next may hurt Michelle and their deep friendship as a result, but after a moment of thought, he can only respond with the truth. "No, I wasn't. At least not until we were older. Every time I put on this mask, I take a calculated risk for Ned, Ms. Drew, and my aunt due to the possibility of the people I love and care for, like you might be put in danger when one of my villains wants to get at me by hurting them. That's why I have to keep the people who know my secret to a small amount and that's why I had no immediate plans to tell you. I'm sorry."

He regrets the words as soon as they leave his mouth, but he must stick by them even they aren't what Michelle wanted to hear before she shoves the backpack at Peter's stomach, knocking the wind out of him as she runs away in tears. Peter debates staying on the ground like a piece of garbage because that's what he feels like right now until Ned offers him a hand up. "Sorry buddy, I tired everything to stop, I even tried texted you as a warning, but she's very persistent and observant when it comes to you. Should we go after her?"

"Yeah, I'll go. Thank you for trying to warn me, but I had my phone in the backpack because I was driving. Can you take it inside to Jessica, please? May will let you in." Ned accepts the backpack from Peter as they preform their elaborate handshake before splitting off to do their important tasks. "Thanks, Ned."

It doesn't take long for Peter to find Michelle when he knows the exact place she'll go to because Mr. Delmar's rebuilt bodega restaurant has become a little safe haven for the two of them to hang out or do homework after school if Michelle's home gets too intense with her parents going through a particularly venomous divorce and with May needing quiet as she writes her own cookbook from home.

Having a safe place to talking still doesn't help with what to say once he arrives there, so he purposely slows his pace to go over the questions in his head with one question above all, how did this happen? He knows why because Ned was right, Michelle is persistent and she would've found out about his secret eventually, she would've put his life as Spider-Man and his mysterious, unexplained disappearances together into one clear answer because she is one of the smartest people he knows. Michelle's intelligence is one of the qualities Peter admires about her most and he hopes that he will have a chance to keep admiring the quality as he arrives at the bodega to save their friendship.

Mr. Delmar quickly meets him at the door and stops Peter from taking a step further when he sees Michelle sitting alone in the corner booth. "Michelle came in here crying and said you've been hiding some secret from her, are you sure it's a good idea to talk with her so soon?"

Peter sighs and shakes his head with a conflicted expression on his face. "No, but I have to try and fix what's broken between us, please." Mr. Delmar sighs as well, but steps aside and allows the boy to pass because he knows Peter is a good kid, complex kid who's in love with an equally complex girl. Peter takes a deep breath and curls his sweaty hands into fists as he slowly approaches her table. "Can we please talk? I'd like to explain everything."

"You pretty much said everything you wanted to back in that parking lot." Michelle curls her knees in her chest and rest her head on them before giving Peter a look saying he can sit down, then she avoids eye contact in favor of the watching the raindrops fall on the window outside. "I want you to take a good long look at me, Pete. Take your time."

Michelle certainly isn't a normal teenager. Where the normal teens have issues like schoolwork and finding a date for an upcoming dance, she finds her books and protesting for change as comfort, she never apologies for the powerful woman that she is and she shouldn't have to because she's going to lead America back from the brink one day.

She cuts him off before he can even speak a word. "Despite my parents wishes to make friends and be more open with people, everyone in school is either afraid of me or thinks of me as the wried girl, even the Academic Decathlon team doesn't talk to me unless they have to, you and Ned are my only friends. You were my friends for everyday of high school, including the day when a spaceship came down and I didn't know where you were, I didn't know if you were alive or dead. that's why I freaked out because you're my friend and everything makes sense now with your flakiness, but sometimes the truth doesn't make things easier and it won't for us."

"I did die. I went into space to help the Avengers in a situation that was like fighting in quicksand, everything we did to stop this guy only brought him closer to his goal of wiping out half of the universe, I was in the half of people who were dusted by the Snap and it scared the hell out of me." Peter's voice is tiny and full of regret as he looks down the table and away from Michelle out of shame over how long he kept this secret from her when they're supposed to be friends. "Everything is going to be harder for us unless I put my cards on the table, so what do you wanna know?"

The smoldering spark between Peter and Michelle is rekindled when she reaches out to his hand, drawing his attention to her as she leans in close and speaks in a whisper. "Whatever I want to know about you as Spider-Man I can just ask Ned, seeing how your alter ego is all we talk about at lunch. I want to know if there are anymore secrets you're hiding from me."

Peter sighs, retracting his hand. "For there to be no more secrets between us, I should probably tell you about the woman who was our chaperone on the trip to London a few weeks ago, Ms. Drew isn't just a school teacher."

"I knew it!" Michelle says in a sudden outburst of excitement and accomplishment over her theory being correct, causing Peter to nearly jump out of his seat. "I mean, I had my suspicions about her, especially at the airport and she stayed with you at the hotel while the rest of us worked our asses off at the competition. So, are you working together or something?"

"You could say that, yeah. Without going into too much detail, Ms. Drew and I encountered someone named Quentin Beck while in London, he was the buyer in that drug deal you witnessed, eventually Quentin followed us back home and she's helping me bring him in to the proper authorities with her own spider based superpowers. It's a true superhero team up and we're friends now because of it."

The universe must've heard Peter talk about Jessica because his phone buzzes within his pocket and he knows will be her or May asking where he is. The last Peter wants is leave Michelle alone so soon after their relationship has reached deeper level of growth, but for Uncle Ben dying words to mean anything, sometimes he must leave friends for the job.

He stands up from the booth with the intention to leave, but not until he says goodbye to Michelle. "Thank you for letting me tell my side of things, but Ms. Drew has a lead on that project we're working on and I have to meet with her, I'll catch up with you and Ned later, I promise. Could you not tell anyone about my big secret?"

"Hell yes, you dork. Now I can discuss Spider-Man identity theories in Flash's fan club at school with this knowledge all to myself. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me as long you take Ned and I to an Avengers party once and a while, I want meet Black Panther and Captain America. I know we'll talk later, so I'll leave you with this for luck."

Michelle isn't sure what compels her to do what she does next, maybe it's Peter's infectious smile or the way she knows who he really is not when very few other people do, but she presses a very light kiss to lips before either party can stop themselves, leaving Peter in a stunned state of happiness and shock as he stumbles out of the bodega

Shock remains on Peter's face the during whole walk back to his apartment as he tries to decipher what the kiss meant. Was she going in for his cheek and he accidently moved? Does it mean they're still best friends, or something more? She wouldn't have kissed him like that if they were still just friends, god, he wants this kiss to be something more. Peter is so caught in his own head that he completely forgot the he made it back to the apartment until May stops him in the path to his room.

"Hey kiddo, you just missed Ned, he dropped your backpack in your room and left without a word, he seemed freaked out about something." It's hard for May not to notice the wide smile on her nephew's face like he just won the lottery or something. "So, are you going to tell me why you're so happy or was trash day just that exciting?"

"I just had my first kiss." Peter's wide smile never leaves his face and May soon matches it with her own. "Before you ask all your overprotective aunt questions, it was Michelle from school and she kissed me, then I left her to come back here because I didn't want you to worry. Do you think it was a bad move to leave after we kissed like I did? I should go back."

Peter's hands sweat again and he starts making his way towards the front door until May holds him back by the hood on his coat and turns him around into a hug. "Cool your heels, she's probably as freaked out as you are, you both need some time process your feeling and I know what will help. Jessica wanted know if she can take you and Matt out for ice cream while you guys discuss your case against Quentin, they're waiting in your room."

Ice cream certainly seems like a strange turn of events after today, maybe a sweet treat will lift the trio's sprits, even if he knows Jessica has other motives for the sudden outing, but there is one way to find out as he opens his bedroom door to find Matt meditating on his bed in a crisscross position while Jessica searches the room for any loose comic books so she can add them to the stack already in her hands. "May said we're going for I- what are you doing with those?" 

"SHIELD tracked Quentin's last known location back to his empty flat among a whole block of empty flats in Midtown, so we're going on another stakeout and we'll need something to pass the time. Matt has his..." Jessica trails off, glancing behind her and seeing that Matt is now doing an upside down handstand with his eyes closed like he doesn't care if anyone watches. "Gymnastics and mediation, I guess, and I've got my knitting. Now, I don't have time to ask which comics books you've read before because I don't want to loose this chance while we got it. This ends tonight, Pete, we're going to make sure of it."

"Cool, are we still getting ice cream?"

* * *

Peter's eyes remain curiously fixed on Matt dressed in red devil suit as the boy finishes off the last bite of his chocolate covered ice cream cone knowing The Devil of Hell's Kitchen can probably sense his curiosity in the air around the rooftop the trio is sitting on. Finally, his curiosity gets the better of him, leading Peter to ask what Matt's secret is. "Are you actually blind? I mean, you seem to know exactly what's going around you at all times, so what do you truly see?"

"Peter!" Jessica briefly turns her attention away off of overlooking Quentin's dark and seemingly empty apartment building to scold Peter's bluntness. "Although, everyone is curious about Matthew's abilities, that isn't how to ask. Be more gentle."

Matt chuckles softly with a liveliness in his voice, waving off Jessica's concern as he finishes off his own cone. "It's okay, Jessica, I get that question a lot once people discover who I really am. After the accident that took my sight, I quickly discovered that my other senses were somehow enhanced to compensate, then I met another blind man called Stick and he trained me to use my senses to see everything better than before with a sort of radar sense that helped me see the problems of home as a world one fire, and I knew I needed to save my city."

"That's cool, in an ominous, yet hopeful sort of way. I just have my Spider-Sense as I call it, and that just warns me of danger."  Peter begins to pat the black pants of his improved Spidey suit in rhythmic pattern before he begins beat boxing to pass the time until it's the right moment to arrest Quentin, drawing Jessica and Matt's focus on him. "Sorry, I already read through the comics you got me ten times over, and I don't have anything else to do, so I'm trying to distract myself from thinking about how I left things with MJ the last time we spoke."

"Who's MJ?" Matt asks, keeping his focus on Peter as he absentmindedly twirls a baton between his very skilled fingers, even going so far as to toss it from hand to hand with the greatest of ease. "Is she the girl you nearly ran over outside of your school earlier today?"

"Yes, exactly, and I wasn't meaning to by the way. Wait, how'd you know she was a girl?" Matt just gives a sly smile in response to Peter's question, continuing to play with the baton before Peter snatches it away with his Web-Shooters.

"MJ found out I'm Spider-Man when she found my suit in Jessica's backpack in the car though the rolled down window-" He wants to explain more, but Jessica cuts him off by stopping what she is doing and holding up her hand as a way to tell him to be quiet for a moment.

"Wait, this girl knows you're Spider-Man now?" She asks, slightly shocked and angry, Peter nods before she sighs. "Oh god, I'm going to have to bring her in for questioning at some SHIELD black site to learn what else she knows and that's going to be so much paperwork." 

Peter is quick to put Jessica at ease when discovers her intentions. "Whoa Jess, she won't tell anyone because she isn't that type of person, now our relationship is in a state of limbo because she kissed me for luck before the three of us met up again. May says to give her time and she'll tell me what the kiss means, but how?"

"Listen to May." Both Matt and Jessica say in unison before Matt goes on to explain. "Speak from the heart when you tell her about your feelings. Tell her that you can't stand of thought of not hearing her laugh every day, tell her that goosebumps erupt on your skin whenever your hands accidently touch, tell her that world smells like flowers when you stand to her, tell her that it tasted sparks flying when you shared that first kiss, tell her that the future is easier to envision when she's with you. At least that's what I feel when I think about my wife."

"Wow, can you say that to me again once we're done here so I can write it down?" Peter is completely floored by Matt's words so much so that Jessica may have for him as her focus on the mission while she occasionally glances at the yarn in her hands to make sure she is still on track with her knitting. "Jess, you're into girls, do you have advice for me?"

Jessica chuckles, putting down her knitting and gesturing to Matt. "Oh no, my mentorship responsibilities stop just short of giving relationship advice. Besides, the terrible advice I would've given you is nothing in comparison to what our resident love guru said. Just treat her better than you do yourself and you two will be just fine, that's what I do with Carol."

"Fair enough." Peter takes both of their words to heart for later, yet he has one more question remains on his lips waiting to be asked. "How did you and Carol meet, Jess?"

An unstoppable smile quickly forms on Jessica's lips because she'll never forget that day as long as she lives, she'll never forgot how Carol descended from the sky like the beautiful and badass angel that she is as she came ready to bring hope back the same world that recently experienced unspeakable amounts of tragedy. "To understand how we met, first you must understand that I completed my fourth year of teaching and I working for SHIELD , so I immediately hopped on a plane once I heard about Nick's dusting and I followed his last known coordinates to where I met Carol as she investigated the pager Nick left behind."

"We quickly hit it off as we investigated the universe's strange and sudden disappearances together until she was called away by you and the rest of the Avengers when Thanos reappeared. After he was defeated, I was assigned to help Carol integrate back into society, so we spent a lot of time together and that led to one drunken night. which led to trying hide our hickeys in the morning before work."

She has to hide her blushing cheeks away from Peter and Matt when they give her approving smiles before the young boy's expression turns to one of slight surprise over Nick and Carol's choice of communication device. "Did you say Nick left a pager behind?" Jessica nods, confused by Peter's question. "Oh cool, I just don't remember those because they're so ancient. I found my uncle's old one the attic once."

Jessica looks at him with her mouth agape in shock. "Jesus, you're young. You better be joking, otherwise you will have to catch my fists before I grab you and drag you to the nearest library where I can teach you some shit." She says in a joking manner before her focus is brought back to the task at hand as the lights in Quentin's apartment suddenly turn on while the rest of the building remain in the dark, but he is still no where to be seen. "Hold up, we have something here. The lights are on, but no one's home."

Peter quickly jumps to his feet and joins Jessica at the building's edge as he uses his mask's sensors to read the apartment building as completely empty, not even Quentin is there. "Why would Quentin keep paying for electricity if he's no longer living there? This is a trap to lure us, Jess, no doubt about it. How should we go about this?"

"Spring the trap. Stay on comms if we get split up. " Jessica winks while gathering up her things and making sure her gear is ready as the other heroes do the same before Peter creates a giant web slingshot that launches him and Jessica through the two massive windows making up the outside Quentin's apartment while Matt is able to get across using a grapple cable fired from one of his batons. Jessica lands first and she quickly learns why the building was abandoned. 

The lights are in a constant state of flickering on and off, the walls are bare of any decoration unless one would count the cracks that expose the fray wires and pipes that were once hidden beneath right next to a fireplace that looks to be minutes away from crumbling into a pile of rubble, furniture is non existent except for single laptop resting on a milk crate in the center of the room.

Purple smoke wafts outward from a steam vent on the street below, providing Quentin Beck with the perfect illusion to reveal himself dressed in a green jumpsuit, the gauntlets fastened to his wrists now have a gold tint to them as a flowing purple is fixed to the back of his collar above where an existing domed helmet has been placed on his head. He uses the helmet's built in Bluetooth device to speak with a mysterious ally. "Peter and the woman have taken the bait and going into my apartment with The Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Is that a problem for us?"

The man on the other line speaks with a voice scrambler to hide his identity, yet it does little to mask his sinister undertones. "For you, maybe. As long as 77 is returned into my procession for the remnants of the organization I represent, then I will assist you in your plan to kill Peter, but it goes on unchanged."  

"Why would anyone live like this?" Peter asks, examining the room by shifting through the mountainous piles of trash for any sort of clues that may lead to a location, but he only finds trash, trash, and more trash.

"Usually people who have no where else to go." Jessica smartly keeps her guard up while playing a pre-recorded video Quentin left on the laptop as Matt uses his radar sense to investigate the room further in the background.

Quentin's villainous sneer plasters the screen, greatly upsetting Peter and Jessica as he speaks dangerously unstable tone. "Hello Peter, surprised to see me? Or course you are, I'm like the resistant cockroach, I'm always able to come back to life when my thought I was destroyed and this time I came back using my newly found connections on the dark web and it really is a magical place because you never who you'll find on there because the enemy of my enemy is my friend, isn't that right, Taskmaster?"

Suddenly, Jessica's heartrate skyrockets rapidly and she feels like she's about to jump out of her body as the screen switches to a grainy image of a man wearing white cloak and gloves, a menacing skull mask, a belt of pouches on top of orange and blue under armor, and a sword and shield attached to his back. He smiles at Jessica through the one way camera. "Hello, 77."

"Who's Taskmaster?" Peter asks, noticing a layer of sweat running down Jessica's face. Why did he call you 77?"

"He trained me to be the Spider of HYDRA..." Jessica can barely breathe as she finds herself unable to look away from the screen while Taskmaster's evil plan spills out of his mouth like slime until she punches her hand through the screen with her Venom Blast, then turns to leave without further explanation. "We're leaving. Matthew, are you coming?"

Matt doesn't respond, instead he goes over to a broken pipe and removes the glove on his hand to feel the brush of some kind of gas against his hand that seems to be interfering with his radar sense, it's only the faint ticking sound coming the destroyed fireplace that causes Matt to realize the true extent of the danger they're in. "We need to move now!"

Confusion heavily clouds Peter's mind, but he gets the same sense of danger and holds Jessica by the waist and fires a web-line across the street to safety as Matt does the same with his batons, but they quickly learn that they didn't do so in enough time the force of the explosion sends them to their intended target building, just in more painful way and Peter knows it's about to get much more painful when Mysteryio and Taskmaster are there waiting for them.

Taskmaster says hello to Jessica by kicking her in the head while she's away from the others, leaving Peter and Matt to handle Quentin alone, but that's easier said than done when Peter is about to trip over himself in a daze of confusion, which causes Quentin to laugh manically. "Did you enjoy seeing my apartment, Peter? Personally, I think it's an improvement over what I had before, like my new form of toxin that is working through your body thanks to my old fireplace funneling the gas in slowly, but unlike my first batch, this gas is odorless and hardly detectable by the naked eye. So, enjoy the trip."

With his radar sense restored by the clean air, Matt is able to gather a clear picture of the world around him, including Peter collapsed on the ground. So he quickly throws his baton at Quentin's domed helmet, shattering it long enough for Matt to check on Peter. "Are you alright, Peter? Quentin's toxin isn't affecting me like it is with you, so I need you tell me what you're seeing and feeling right now."

A deep panic sets into Peter when finds himself in dark, endless void, he's alone at first, then a dead body falls at his feet, his hands tremble as he rolls the zombified corpse over and comes face to face with his Uncle Ben once again before the corpse springs to life and begins ripping into Peter's flesh. "I'm in a dark void, there are all tons of bodies around me, my aunt and uncle, my parents, all my friends, even you and Jessica are all dead and now you're clawing at my face because I couldn't save you. Oh, God. I know this isn't real, but it hurts so much."

Peter's frightened tone and vulnerability closely reminds Matt of how his father spoke words of comfort to him in the moments following the accident that blinded him as a kid, and he knows the same must be done for Peter now by removing the glove on his hand again and placing it into Peter's hand tightly. "Peter, if you can still hear me, then I want you to feel my hand, please, tell me you can."

"I can feel it, I can't see you, though, but I can tell you're here." Peter's voice is shallow and broken before he begins throwing wild punches at Matt in the thought that he is hitting the zombies of his vivid visions, but it gives Matt an idea of how to defeat Quentin as he gives Peter a hand up. "What are you doing? I can't see."

"Relax Peter, I will be your eyes for the time being. Just listen to my movements hit on the ground and act as I do." Matt takes the grapple cable from one of his batons and tethers it around himself and Peter so they can fight Quentin in tandem before he change towards their common enemy as fast as Peter can keep up.

In a matter of seconds, Peter ignores the sounds and visons of monsters to close his eyes and takes a deep, calming breath to try seeing as Matt does with the help of his Spider-Sense.  The picture isn't like what Matt sees, but it's enough to follow him as they quickly approach Quentin and slide beside him, tripping him with the cable connecting them.

The humiliation Quintin feels in this moment is palpable and it makes his attacks against Peter and Matt sloppy and coordinated as he shoots hallucinogenic gas in a directions until the canisters that fuel his gauntlets are completely depleted, leading Quentin to pick up a piece of his shattered helmet and attack Peter while forgetting about Matt's presence, giving the boy a chance to see the dark circles under his deranged eyes. "I could've given you everything you could've ever wanted, fame and fortune, we could've had it all together. Now, there is nothing left for us except to die together."

As Peter dodges Quentin attacks while Matt uses the cable to slowly tie him to a chimney, Peter can't help except to feel sorry for him, even with the carnage and death he's caused, all Quentin wanted to be was adored by the massive public or anyone after never receiving any admiration as a child and he breaks down in tears when realizing he will never have that. "I was once like you, Peter. Young, idealistic, and foolish enough to believe I could've had it all with the movies I stared in, and I did for a time, but I lost it by using drugs and booze to cope with my overnight fame, now I don't know to do. God, I don't know what to do."

Peter removes his mask to breathe in clean air and help return his senses back to normal while staying out in field, then he crouches down to look Quentin in the eyes with sympathy in his own. "It didn't have to end this way Quentin, and it still doesn't. Once you get out of prison, I can help you get back on your feet as an actor, not as Spider-Man, but as Peter Parker, your friend, so you no longer have to hurt anyone."

"Why would you even think about helping me now, after I killed those people in the shelter fire back in London and every heinous act I've done against the redemptive character you see me as, why? Quentin asks, seeming like a normal person for once as he comes down from exposing himself to his own toxin in order to gain an edge and keep up with Spider-Man.

"Because everyone deserves a second chance to try again." Matt adds, remembering how he tried to remind Frank Castle of that lesson on a rooftop very similar to this one. He places a hand on shoulder and draws his attention to the brutal fight still carrying on behind them. "Leave Quentin for the police, we need to get back to Jessica."

"Oh, my God! Jess!"

Jessica pretends not hear Peter calling her name, instead her entire being is working towards one seemingly impossible goal, kill the man who treated her less like a child wanting love and more like a weapon with nothing in her way except the mission. Taskmaster smirks as he dodges Jessica's rage fueled attacks with all too much ease. "Your moves are familiar and stale, haven't you learned anything new, 77? I trained you better than this."

Taskmaster's comments cause Jessica to growl in anger, going faster and harder in her attacks as she grabs his head and sends her knee repeatedly into his face, then she wraps her legs around his torso and flips him backwards on his head, cracking his skull mask while she stands victorious. "MY NAME IS JESSICA MIRIAM DREW! My name was given to me by the very man you sent me to kill after he showed me compassion and love, something I won't show you!"

Feeling more confident in herself, Jessica goes in to attack again while Taskmaster is down by punching at his chest plate with her fists fully powered by green venom energy as she doesn't her opponent a moment or react until she stops dead in her attack when Taskmaster is able to pull out Jessica's HYDRA codebook out his belt, a book she was sure to burn. "That was destroyed, where did you get another copy?!"

Taskmaster chuckles, tossing the book into the fire blazing across the street to show he doesn't need it, but the gesture means nothing to Jessica. "You truly are foolish to believe that HYDRA didn't make copies for this exact moment, but I don't need the book to remember your activation words when I am the man who programed them inside of you. Now, shall we begin?'

"Evergreen. Wundagore. Crimson..."

"SHUT UP! YOU DESTROYED EVERYTHING I AM AND EVERYTHING I TRIED TO BE!" Jessica storms towards Taskmaster with her fists glowing, ready to giver everything she has left of herself, but it isn't enough to make him stop, it never is.

"Daughter. Nineteen. Measure..." Taskmaster seems to get some sick amount of enjoyment out of seeing Jessica and her attacks become less and less graceful, which makes them easier to dodge as he treats her like the mere nuisance she appears as in his eyes. "Rhythm. Seven."

"Spiral. Peaceful."

Jessica completely falls to pieces as Taskmaster finishes the final two words in the sequence as she uses the last amount of free will she has left to light up her fist and aim at her own head with a readiness to end her own life now instead of giving it to anyone else. She was born broken and she'll die that way too, but she'll die with too many regrets on her heavy dirty soul, she should've done more father-daughter activities with Nick and she should've progressed her relationship with Carol beyond a lovely causal fling. What she regrets most is only her living her life as SHIELD or HYDRA agent, never truly as herself.

Her concentration is interrupted when Peter runs up behind her and screams in her ears in effort to talk her out of her trance without knowing she is already too far gone, but he quickly discovers that when Jessica picks Peter up by the neck in a matter of seconds before he knows what's happening, the love and brightness that he once saw in her brown eyes has been replaced by a well hidden darkness.

"Ready to comply."

As Matt approaches Taskmaster to take him down, he sends his attack dog to deal with the enemies posing a threat to his life. "77, kill both of them now."

Peter sincerely hopes Jessica is in her head somewhere fighting to gain control, otherwise that would put a real damper on their friendship as he is thrown into Matt with enough force to make them tumble off the edge of the six story roof until Matt grabs the railing of the fire escape close to the ground, nearly popping his shoulder out of its socket as he holds Peter with the other hand. "Climb up or jump down, it's your choice, just make it fast, please."

Seeing no other options, Peter climbs on the fire escape and pulls Matt along with him when he spots Jessica using her own spider-like parkour skills to close the distance between her targets before she kicks them through a window into , causing Matt to hold off Jessica to the best of his ability by wrapping a cable around her to momentarily hold her down while Matt helps Peter up. "That isn't going to hold Jessica for long, so we need a way to snap her out of her brainwashing, or give a new order."

"Then let's give a new order. Hold out your hand." Peter fires two black Spider-Tracers into Matt's hand and a web line for him to get on the roof in front of Taskmaster, speaking to him through comms while Peter begins fighting Jessica after she freed herself from the cable using her Venom Blast. "This bug isn't just a tracer, it's also a hacking device and microphone, I need you to get it into the voice scrambler in Taskmaster's mask, then I can hack it and give Jessica a new order using the radio tower on the Oscorp Building as an amplifier."

"Got it, you get Jessica to follow you to Oscorp, I'll handle Taskmaster." Matt and Taskmaster charge toward one another with a fury of attacks that make difficult for the combatants to copy each other's movements, but Matt has a slight edge because he able to anticipate the moves in Taskmaster's fighting style while changing up his own fighting style very often as to confuse his opponent.

He uses Taskmaster's confusion to land a few quick jabs to his stomach, then he plants the tracer through the crack in his mask while doing a handspring flip over Taskmaster and takes off sprinting towards Oscorp Tower as he starts to feel the downpour of another rainstorm on his skin while Taskmaster gives chase after him. "Peter, the first part of my job is done, how are you doing?"

"Just give me a minute." Peter successfully blocks another one of Jessica's attacks by the skin of his teeth while he is on backfoot during their entire fight, it doesn't help when she seems to be explicitly aiming for his head. "With the way you're acting right now, Jess, I feel like I'm the only one fighting for our friendship. Scowl menacingly if you think I'm right."

Peter gets a rough answer when Jessica violently throws him out of the window into the rain, giving him seconds to stand up and block before Jessica comes in with another round of her furious fists trying to hit his face, a scowl never leaving her own. "Great, now we can work on turning your frown upside down. How about a joke or sarcastic comment?"

Every time Peter blocks one of Jessica hits, the force of the impact sends him back inch by inch until he has to change up his tactics at the building's edge when the next hit would've sent into a dumpster on the street below, so he creates a bungee rope of web, then he flips over Jessica as she charges at him and becomes trapped in the rope for Peter to wrap her in a web cocoon that stops at her neck before he sticks her on his back using his Spider-Strength with Jessica literally trying bite his neck. "I like your commitment to your evil overlord and all, but this is for your own good, Jess."

Matt is out of breath by the time he reaches the top of the tower and plants the other tracer before speaking to Peter as he kicks Taskmaster in face when he tries getting at the tracer. "I'm in position, where are you?"

"Right behind you, and I come barring gifts of one insanely grouchy lady channeling her inner vampire." Peter has release Jessica from the cocoon his back as he lands on the tower himself, leaving her Matt's capable hands while he begins the hacking process. "Keep them off of me while I work, and try not to harm Jessica, please."

Hacking Taskmaster's equipment is easier than done Taskmaster has backup firewalls for his backup firewalls, he wishes Ned was here because he is The Guy In The Chair. Peter's only saving grace comes in form of Matt Murdock, who is able to distract Taskmaster so much that he doesn't know what's happing until it's too late, causing him to remove the sword from its sheath and throws directly at Peter's head.

"Jessica, I free you from my control, please stop me from stabbing Peter with my sword. Pretty Please." He says in Taskmaster's scrambled voice, Peter's words directed at Jessica herself, who leaps up to grab the sword's handle before she turns around in midair and thrust it into his chest before anyone can react or stop her.

Peter and Matt stand frozen like their feet are stuck in cement, their mouths are agape in shock as Jessica lands on her feet, then pushes the sword further into Taskmaster's chest to make sure he feels it, saying something to him before she places her hands around his head and snaps his neck. "You should have fucking killed me when I was seven."

Only the sound of Jessica's heavy breathing can be heard moments after she just snapped Taskmaster's neck without mercy, leaving Peter to wonder what he should next before Jessica screams primely in release and allows herself to be bathed in the downpour of raindrops. A release from a childhood of torture and pain, a release the endless nightmares and suicidal thoughts, a release from being turned into a monster for the sick enjoyment of others. Most of all, it's a primal scream of release that signifies that she is completely free because it's over. It's finally over and she can breathe again.

* * *

It isn't what Jessica would have wanted, but she goes to a nearby hospital to heal her injuries and rest after she kills Taskmaster, hell, Peter practically checks her once they get there and she didn't have the energy to argue when she collapses in Peter's arms in the waiting room. This time she wakes up slowly with the a large bouquet of flowers from Carol along with a get well card from Peter coming into her view before she focuses on Casino Royale playing on the Tv.

The book and movie were favorites of hers as a teenager, James Bond heavily inspired her to become the spy she is today and only one man who would know that, so her eyes scan the room until they meet with only one eye looking at her through the darkness. "What are you doing here, Nick? Come out of your hiding spot to scold me for killing Taskmaster and causing you a considerable amount of paperwork, or are you concerned I'm going to hell over what I've done?"

"No, nothing like that at all, Jess..." Nick stumbles over his words as he steps out of the shadows and slowly sits down at Jessica's bedside before taking her hand, looking at her like a deeply frightened and concerned parent. "I'm just an old man who cares very much about you. How are you feeling?"

Jessica sighs and mutes the Tv to have complete silence when she knows the situation calls for it. "My pride hurts more than my injuries do, I can't believe I let myself fall pray to my HYDRA brainwashing again, but I'm no worse for wear. Where are Peter and Matthew?'"

"With Quentin in prison and your mission complete, they went back to their separate lives. Peter went back to being a normal high school student and Matthew went back to his law firm in Hell's Kitchen. Congratulations, Agent Drew, you completed another mission with flying colors." Nick's smile falters as Jessica refuses to look at him like she's lost in her own head until he squeezes her hand. "What's wrong?"

"I want this mission to be my last. I want to retire from SHIELD completely." Jessica's words leave her mouth quickly before she can take them back because she knows they are a shock to both of them. "I don't know what brought this on, I guess I've almost died way too many times for it to be funny anymore. Each time I stared death in the face, I've done so with deep regrets, the regret of not knowing true peace of a romantic relationship with a good woman like Carol or the love of a family like you've given me. I still want those very possible things and if I don't walk away now, then I fear I never will."

"Okay, I honestly thought you were going to take over from me as SHIELD Director one day, but that was just me." Nick says in all serious before he and Jessica share a laugh over the absurdity of the idea." if you want to hand in your resignation, then I won't stop you. What will you do next, and does this mean I finally get to be Grandpappy Nick?"

Jessica chuckles, tilting her head like she's literally weighting her options. "Not quite yet, I'll get there soon enough. Maybe I'll move to New York for a change of scenery and reinstate my teaching license to become a teacher at Peter's school, I know the kid will love that. In case the world ever threatens to end, yo-"

Nick cuts her off before she can finish, a rare smile finding its way onto his face because his next words will piss her off to no end. "Yes, I know where to find you, my Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Woman."

Jessica only has minor injuries and a slightly destroyed mind, so she gets released from the hospital a few days after her arrival with a cup of coffee and her personal things in hand as she slowly goes through the nursery department on the way towards the main entrance to meet with Peter.

She doesn't know if it's her countless close brushes with death or her recent conversation with Nick, but she stops to look at the pudgy beings that people call babies, then she look down at her flat stomach with a want, no, a need to have a baby for herself. How did you go from a super spy to already planning playdates in her head? That doesn't matter, what matters now if she can really do this because being a parent and having a kid isn't something she screw up, her baby deserves the best. A smile of change forms on Jessica's face as she walks back to the OB/GYN department because her future baby deserves the world and she will eventually give it to them.

Peter hums to himself, leaning against May's car as he waits for Jessica before checking his phone for any messages because she is taking considerably longer than she said she would and he thinks about going inside to check on her fearing the worst until he seeis her walking out the front door of the hospital with a dopey smile on her face, which only grows when he runs up to hug her, nearly knocking the coffee out of her hand before she hugs him back. "Oh, my god, it's so good to see you again, Jessica. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, kid. I'm glad to be out. Sorry for making you wait, there was one more thing I needed to get checked out before I felt comfortable leaving the hospital."

"I'm glad too, clean bill of health and everything, that means we can do many things together before you leave to go back home to London." Peter gets into the car and starts it up with Jessica following his lead at her own small pace. She is still totally in her own head with her own thoughts about kids until Peter poses a question to her when they reach a divider on the highway, one route leads to the airport while the other leads back to Queens. "So, where do you want to get lunch, or do you want me to take you to JFK instead? I suppose we can get lunch together at the airport."

Jessica shakes her head, then looks out the window wistfully while her hair blows in the wind because she knows today is the beginning of her new life. "I don't care where we go, but I thinking about staying in the Queens neighborhood for the foreseeable future, so take me to the best restaurant you know."

In response, Peter smiles and takes the Queens route all the way to Mr. Delmar's Bodega, where he hopes to run into Michelle once they get inside, but the place is empty except for himself, Mr. Delmar, Jessica. There isn't much that he can do but move on by purchasing a newspaper and introduce Jessica to the place as they sit down at a table. "Welcome to Delmar's, the best sandwich place in all of Queens and the first step on your way to a new life because I'm going to help you find a place all your own in this neighborhood through the apartment listings, so let's order lunch and get cracking."

Peter orders a tuna melt and Jessica gets chicken salad sandwich as they begin the process of looking for Jessica's perfect place somewhere that isn't too far from Peter and May's apartment so she can keep an eye on him if the need arises, but far enough away so it's quiet when Carol comes over for some private time. A rhythm develops between them after the first day and they find themselves easily repeating it over the following weeks it takes to find the right apartment and get approved to move in, then it's a different battle to get her property through customs and set up in new place just the way she likes it, which causes Jessica a heavy amount of stress during the nights she spends sleeping on Aunt May's couch.

She could have asked Carol if they could sleep together in the Avengers Facility upstate and it's a proposition she quite enjoyed the prospects of given their electric chemistry together, but she's heard horror stories about how Vision isn't big on boundaries and she hasn't exactly told Carol about her very recent and sudden move to New York, so Jessica wants the news to be a surprise.

Finally, the day has arrived when her new life begins and she feels a sense of deep pride run throughout her entire body because she did it the impossible and got out of the superhero game while she was still young. The prideful smile doesn't leave her face as she sets a box of dishes on kitchen counter and looks at the many other cardboard boxes scattered around her new place before she puts the dishes away in the cabinet, humming a jaunty to herself during the task until she hears Peter enter while easily carrying a 50 inch Tv under one of his arms and a box of Blu-ray movies in the other arm.

"Hey Jess, where do you want to set up your home theater system and movies?"

Jessica waves his question away, taking a second to breathe after she feels nauseous all of the sudden. "Just set them down slowly and we'll deal with after I put away the dishes away along with Nick's Chinaware, it once belonged to his grandmother so I must be careful with it. Oh, before I forget, I wanted to say thank you for helping me move today when I'm sure you had other things to do."

Peter nods, going about his task while he speaks over his shoulder. "I should be thanking you after you got me out of Carol's hard-ass Avengers training today. All that Air Force training has made her one tough drill instructor to deal with. Anyway, I'm so glad you decide to move to a place in Queens that's very close to mine, if anything, it's brought us closer together because I can come over to work on my homework, or we can go over to my house to bake cookies during the holidays, and don't me started on movie nights in our pajamas-"

He cuts himself off when he looks up from his task and sees that Jessica is about to be violently ill before she moves with everything in her power to get to the sink in time before she pukes, leading Peter to hold her hair back and speak to her with comfort like she had done for him two months ago while still keeping a joking personality about him. "First, if you didn't like anything about what I said, then you could've just said so, you didn't need to puke in rejection for me to get the hint. Second, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Pete." Jessica says with shallow breath, washing her mouth out with water before she sits down on the floor against the sink as what she had been hoping for in the weeks since she moved to New York was just confirmed by what she just did. "That all sounds lovely, I can't wait for the three of us to experience all of it together."

"Me too." Peter says with a smile before it's replaced with confusion. "Wait, what do you mean the three of us together?"

Jessica smiles, looking down and touching her stomach before she looks at Peter with joyful tears. "Since you're only person here to help me right now, you get the honour of being the first person to learn my news before anyone else has a chance to. Peter, I'm pregnant."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to change to Jessica's career from a P.I to a teacher for two reasons. First, I felt like there are too many P.I's in the Marvel Universe named Jessica, even though Jessica Drew was first and Jessica Jones came after her. which pisses me off greatly because Brian Michael Bendis only created Jessica Jones and made her a P.I for the Alias series because Marvel wouldn't let him use Jessica Drew. Second, being a teacher gives Jessica a chance to teach at Peter's school and interact with each other more often as my story goes on.
> 
> For those who are disappointed that Carol wasn't in this chapter outside of a few mentions, don't worry, she'll be in the next chapter when Jessica drops the baby bomb, then I have an idea that involves Peter and Jessica for chapter 4.
> 
> Please let me know if you guys would like to read anything more about Matt Murdock, whether that be another chapter in this story, or a separate story focused on Matt and his family.


	3. Memories Of The Damned.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before Jessica can tell Carol about her pregnancy, she can't help but to go over her shadowy past apart of HYDRA and SHIELD in the past as she wonders if she will be a great mother in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going to be different than my others so far. Instead of continuing the narrative from the last chapter, I'm going to use this chapter to explore significant events from Jessica Drew's past and have it be totally self contained because when I was originally planning this chapter, I was going to include a long flashback detailing how Carol and Jessica met after The Snap, but I felt it would break the flow of the chapter, so I'm going do it this way and expand the flashbacks along the way. The chapter is going begin in the aftermath of Nick finding Jessica in New York.
> 
> There will be maximum Caroljess in this chapter while being very little of Peter Parker because right now he resembles the dust I dump out of the vacuum after help my mom clean house.

* * *

Manhattan, New York City - 1996.

Nick Fury has become a great many things to a great many people over the years, an Army soldier, a CIA operative, a Director of SHIELD, a veteran spy of the Cold War, the first successful test subject of the Infinity Serum Project, but to a young and frightened HYDRA Agent, he might be the only person she can trust right now.

She hasn't spoken a word or moved a muscle from her chair since she and Nick first walked into SHIELD's New York headquarters, she just keeps her eyes fixed on the sandwich and juice pouch in her hands like she is looking at the food items for answers to a very important question now that she has failed her latest secret mission, who is she without HYDRA?

The answer comes in the form of Nick kneeling down at her eye level and taking her hand, drawing her attention to him while another younger agent with brown hair stands behind him. "I think it's time to introduce myself and my friend here. My name is Nick Fury, and the person behind me is Phil Coulson. What's your name?"

"77." The girl says, the tone of her voice is barely above a whisper.

Nick frowns at her answer, of course HYDRA wouldn't give her a name when they only see her a blunt instrument used for their nefarious purposes. God only knows what else they're hiding when it comes to this girl. "Alright 77, do you think you can tell us where your parents are? Why aren't they with you right now?"

In response, 77 shakes her head vigorously, deeply afraid of the question. "I don't know, the HYDRA monster killed them soon after I was born when they outlived their usefulness, and they will do the same to me once they find out I failed to kill you. That's why I must succeed. " She hops up on her chair and removes the plastic straw from the juice pouch to use as a weapon when she tries sticking it in his neck, but it has no effect, so she pounds on his chest with tears streaming down her cheeks until Nick holds her in his arms. "No! You don't understand! I must kill you or they'll kill me!"

"I won't let that happen to you." Nick's tone is one of strong reassurance as he kneels down to wipe Jessica's tears away with his thumbs. "Remember what I said back in Time Square? I'm never gonna leave you and that will never change, but we can't stay here, how about we go to my nearby apartment where I will have some more food for you and a warm bed for you sleep in? Phil is going to help you to my car."

77 prepares to jam her straw in Coulson's neck when he tries coming near her with his arms outstretched until Nick steps in between them and carries the girl himself. She should be afraid as she being placed in an unknown vehicle to be driven to an unfamiliar location in the dead of night, but she feels a kindred spirt with Nick that allows her to calm down because she can tell with a single look he is a stone-faced man hiding secrets and pain, like her, so maybe they can help one another heal.

She is someone who won't be heard unless she wants to be, but Nick can hear her munching on her sandwich as quietly as she can in the seat next to him. Soon, the munching is replaced with sounds of soft snoring as she falls asleep snuggled up to him like a small bunny seeking warmth from the cold, unkind outside world.

Nick is very much a man with an old soul from a bygone era, and no more is that fact evident in the way his brownstone apartment is decorated, literally classics such as To Kill A Mockingbird, Hamlet, The Great Gatsby, and The Complete Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes line his bookshelves, complimented by the framed movie posters of classic cinema from Gone With The Wind, North By Northwest, Casablanca, and a heroic poster showcasing an old Captain America adventure serial from 1943.

The only thing that is brand new in Nick's apartment is the Tv, he doesn't see himself turning it on tonight because 77 is already sound asleep in his arms by they walk into the place and time Nick lays her on the couch with Coulson following closely from behind, but the younger agent keeps his firearm at the ready just in case the girl were to suddenly wake and act violently. "Sir, with all due respect, are you sure it's a good idea to bring the girl back to your apartment now? She did try to kill you just a few hours ago."

"She wouldn't have hesitated if she was truly trying to kill me and that means she's fighting HYDRA's brainwashing, even if it's subconsciously. She hasn't even been given a chance to be a real child yet, so we have to give her that chance, I will give her that chance by raising her as my own daughter." Nick can sense Coulson is about object to his idea as he places a pillow underneath 77's head and a blanket around her body. "Thank you for your help, agent. You can put your gun away. I have a new mission for you"

"Right." Coulson places his handgun back in its leather shoulder holster to the letter like an eager child expecting a gold star for following Nick's orders, then he straightens up and speaks sternly. "Okay, sir, what's my mission.

In response to the question, Nick gives Coulson a death glare that he has only seem from the man when he talks of his war experience, which rarely happens nowadays because of his many responsibilities as the newest Director of SHIELD, but he still speaks softly as not to the sleeping girl. "Coulson, I want you to find every single piece of HYDRA intel in reference to this girl and destroy it immediately or give it to me to burn if the documents are of vital importance, understand? With any luck and a hell of a lot of love, this girl might become a normal person someday."

"I'll get right on that, sir, and I'll see you at work in the morning." Coulson nods curtly, then makes his way towards the front door to leave before he stops and looks back at Nick when an important question comes across his mind. "Sir, I know it's none of business, but have you thought of a name for her yet? I mean, she can't go the rest of her life with a number as her name."

The question certainly never crossed Nick's mind, he is in his late forties at this point, he and his wife never had time for children before she unfortunately passed, so it isn't like he has a book of baby names laying around the place. He looks at the pictures scattered along the walls of his apartment instead. First is a picture of him and Carol taken last year before she flew into space, but he decides against that name because he doesn't want this girl to prove herself in some competition of self worth with a woman who may never return. The puzzle remains until his eyes land on a photograph of himself and his parents at his graduation from West Point Military Academy.

A smile dawns his face as he thinks of his father, Drew, and his mother, Jessica, and lastly, his grandmother, Miriam, then he knows the perfect name for the little girl resting in his home that he already has chosen to protect and love with his whole heart so completely. "Yes, I believe I have, Coulson. How about the name Jessica Miriam Drew."

* * *

Washington, DC - 2014.

"SHIELD is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by HYDRA!"

The stinking air of suspicion surrounds not only Jessica while she stands in the Project Insight mission control room, but the entirety of the Triskelion too as Captain Rogers continues his speech over the intercom. Jessica's worse fears had just been realized, how could the same organization she has given her blood, sweat, and tears to over these last six months now be infiltrated by the same organization she left deeply buried inside of her? Whatever the case, she is cautious of everyone in the room and herself because she never knows who is playing both sides.

The tense situation isn't helped at all when Brock Rumlow storms in and demands that the satellites be launched, even going so far as threaten Agent Klein at gunpoint, which causes Agent 13 to pull her pistol on him and forcing the room to pull their guns on one another, Jessica included as friend turns against friend.

For once, Jessica is on the side of the angels as the shooting begins and she dives underneath her computer terminal for cover against the bullets and glass flying through the air, then she is able to skillfully drops two HYDRA Agents with headshots who are blocking her path towards the exit as she moves swiftly with a single mission in mind, find Nick Fury in all of this mess and kill Alexander Pierce in the process.

Jessica's path towards the lifts are interrupted by three more HYDRA agents standing in her way with their guns drawn so she'll just have go through them instead. Her assault begins when she shoots the first agent in the head once again, then uses his momentum as he falls to drop kick the second agent while she takes a combat knife from his tactical uniform and thows it into the neck of the third agent as he fires at Jessica and she uses his friend a bullet sponge before she straightens out her clothes and walks away like nothing happened at all.

Luckily, she doesn't meet anymore opposition on her way to the elevator, but the same can't be said when she enters the lift with the hope of reaching Nick quickly. "Drew, Jessica M, level 9 clearance. Take me to acting Director Pierce's office, quick as you can, please."

"Elevator inoperable due to Triskelion lockdown procedures, please ask again once the lockdown is resolved or receive voice authorization from SHIELD Director, Pierce, Alexander G."

Jessica sighs she walks in the hallway and removes her high heel shoes before shattering a nearby window with her Venom Blasts to quickly wall run up the of the building using her spider ability, then she curses under her breath while she sincerely hopes no one is looking outside during their lunchbreak or something because today was a very bad day to wear a skirt to work. 

Thankfully the commotion present with the helicarriers outside is too great for anyone to notice Jessica running up the building for more than a split second, but she can still see some crooked smiles from people the inside. She'll have to deal with them later, but for now, she silently cuts a circle through the window of the floor level with Pierce's office immediately on the other side, leading her to take a deep breath as she quietly reloads her gun, then she opens the door ever so slightly to where her eyes meet with Nick's single eye after she believed he was dead and she had a deep rage and sadness in her heart as she appropriately mourned him with a bottle of whiskey in the only way Nick would've approved of.

She knows her next idea probably isn't her best one, but Jessica texts Nick using her secure phone.  **Jess: Pops, you better really be shot, otherwise I'm going to shoot you myself unless you tell me exactly what's going on right now!** **Please, I'm frightened that HYDRA will take me again and I don't know who to trust anymore.**

Just a tiny thought of HYDRA makes Jessica feel as if there is an acidic worm crawling beneath her skin, but the response she receives from Nick does very little to lessen her immense discomfort.  **Pops: Then trust me, kid, you can always trust me. Angel Falls. Now, I've got to go shoot an old friend.**

Angel Falls is code meaning the worst truly has come to pass, SHIELD has fallen and for Jessica Drew to survive another day, Agent 77 must fall alongside it, but she would be damned if she allowed an opportunity to kill Pierce here and now while she has the chance until she hears the sharp pop of two gunshots through the door and she knows Nick has beat her to the punch, she just hopes he feels the same amount of rage towards Pierce as she does in this moment. With the bad guy dead, Jessica drops her gun and walks away slowly to become a ghost once more, not of HYDRA this time, but of SHIELD instead because there's rest for the wicked when there's more work to be done.

Her day becomes a blur once SHIELD falls into the Potomac following the three Project Insight Helicarriers and she doesn't have time to slow down as she is one of the first people alongside Sam Wilson to find Captain Rogers unconscious and bleeding by the riverbank. Now, she is sitting in Steve Rogers' hospital room with Sam as they wait for Cap to wake until she feels her phone vibrate with a video call from Nick on the other end and she quietly walks outside to answer it.

"The next words out of your mouth better be an explanation for faking your death without telling me, your only daughter! Otherwise I don't want to hear any of it! I can't believe I fell for that old trick again. Do you know much I mourned you?!"

"Jessica Drew, you've truly mastered the art of guilt tripping me since you were seven." Nick sighs, feeling deep regret for his actions over the last few days. "I'm sorry for not letting you in on my plan when you're the most important person to me, but that's why I didn't tell me because if HYDRA knew I was alive, they would use you to draw me out in the open, and I never want them to use you for their purposes ever again."

"Apology accepted." Jessica gives a grateful smile in appreciation of Nick's heartfelt words before she moves onto the business at hand. "With SHIELD up in flames, what's our next move together, and did your burn all the things in your safe house? Even your leather eyepatch and trench coats? That eyepatch was always my favorite item to wear as a kid."

"I'm afraid so." He says before matching Jessica's frown of displeasure through the phone. "But, much like SHIELD, you will see me in that look again someday soon enough, so never loose hope, which brings me to the answer of your question."

"Our next move together is to go our separate ways. I'm flying to Europe in a few days to see how far I disappear down the rabbit hole again. I'm sending you info on a target to follow in the deepest of shadow conditions. Tell no one, not even Captain Rogers and Sam Wilson in the next room because your target's file goes back to pre-SHIELD days and he is fresh out of his HYDRA brainwashing. So if there's anyone who understands what his fractured mind is going through right now, it's you."

"Understood." Jessica's phone lights up with her target's file and her eyes scan over a photograph of the most notorious assassin in HYDRA history kept in cryostasis for the safety of others, a deadly boogyman HYDRA would use against Jessica if ever she gained an ounce of her own free will. "You failed to disclose my target is the famous Winter Soldier, he's been HYDRA's ghost story for the last 70 year, and he certainly was the main cause of my nightmares as a child. In the seven years I served HYDRA, I never saw him without his face mask during the select few times he trained me, I don't even know what his real name is."

"His name is James Buchanan Barnes."

* * *

Plums, fucking plums. During the last year, Jessica has tracked James to all sorts of across Europe, Budapest, Prague, Vienna, Lisbon, and lastly, Bucharest, and during all that time, she has learned that James is very a creature of habit. Once he has settled is in a new location, his daily routine becomes predicable as he sets the same traps to make sure no one is watching him, does the same activities to keep himself busy during the day, exercises in the same way to be ready in case someone comes after him, writes in the same journals when a new memory fragment comes into his head and reads those same journals if he forgets. And he purchases the same food to keep himself fed, always including plums.

Here Jessica is yet again, sneakily watching Mr. Barnes from the shadows for another night, except he has covered all windows of his temporary apartment with newspaper to ward off prying eyes so she's had to get creative in her approach to spy on him. Luckily, she has the latest of SHIELD Stealth Tech at her disposal.

She just wasn't expecting the invisibility suit she's wearing to be so damn tight in certain places around her entire body. Nevertheless, she carries on with the mission by sticking one of her gloved hands on the window to have a visual 3D layout of the room through the heads-up display of her cowl mask.

So far, nothing seems out of the ordinary as James unpacks his groceries while a tea kettle heats up on the stove when the room suddenly blacks out and Jessica is left no clue as to what happening or where James is at the moment until his bionic arm punches through the outside wall, wraps around her neck forcibly and yanks her into the room with Jessica landing on her stomach directly on the bed, where her target is waiting.

He is visibly shaken, his breathing is erratic and both of his fists remained clenched, as if he is expecting and ready for a fight. "Who the hell are you, and what do you want with me? I've know you've been tracking my every movement for the past few weeks and I want to know why!"

Jessica coughs the breath back into her lungs and slowly stands to her feet with her hands raised in surrender towards James as she slides the cowl off of her head, but her target's focus is clearly elsewhere. Instead, his focus is on something hidden beneath the floorboards, possibly a backpack, that's where Jessica would keep it if she was forced to make a quick escape, so maybe they're more alike than either of them realize.

"You've known for weeks? Wow, I think one of us has to step up our game, I've been tracking you much longer than that. If I had it my way, you would never know I was watching you in the first place, but it's time for you to know why I am. Can I have some tea, please?" Jessica asks, hearing the sharp whistle of a tea kettle behind her. James nods, and she pours two cups for both of them before she sits down near him and hands over the cup, then she takes a drink from her own.

She seems enamored with the flavor of her tea rather then the world around her, even James is nonexistent compared to the warm drink in her hands after the many cold nights she's spent outside over the last few weeks. "Mmm, you certainly have good taste in tea, my friend. Ginseng can be very calming to the soul in our practically nasty line of work. I'm an Earl Grey girl myself, but that's thanks to my overly patriotic and overly enthusiastic British sensibilities."

"Can you please be serious here for a moment?!" James asks, snapping at Jessica and nearly causing her to spill her tea as he seems more desperate for answers than ever, like he's deciding in this moment whether to run away or not. "Can you please just tell me what you want from me right now. Friend or foe, who the hell are you?"

"I'm a friend of a friend, you might say." Jessica says, matching James's serious tone as her mind momentarily flashes back to the time when Nick gave her this mission in the hospital hallway, he was probably thinking of Steve Rogers when he did so. "Let me just say that this friend of mine has a soft spot for lost causes who are couple of HYDRA's worthless mistakes."

James is about take issue with Jessica's claim, but he can hardly dispute it after every monstrous thing he had done under HYDRA control, yet his curiosity is peeked when it comes to Jessica's past because he has a sense like they've met before. "What do you mean? Were you a HYDRA Agent as well?"

In response, Jessica lights her hand up with green Venom energy in the hopes that James will remember their time together when she was younger, leading James to adopt a deeply remorseful and apologetic expression on his face towards the woman he used to train using pain and other bloody methods to transform the little girl into an extremely deadly weapon. "Of course, it's you, they wouldn't have sent anyone else after me. I'm so sorry for causing you any pain and misery, 77."

"That isn't my name." Jessica insists in a low growl, now she is the one who is down right erratic and frightened, but she takes a number of deep, calming breathes to return to her more measured self. "My name Jessica Miriam Drew, my friends just call me Jess, which is what I'm hoping we will become. What do you say, James, can we be friends? You know, HYDRA buddies for life." She says in a hopeful tone, extending her hand for James to shake.

She isn't sure what complies her to do this, but she holds out her fists in the hope he will bump it and allow her past his defensive outer wall. James can't help but snicker in reference to Jessica's remark before he returns the fist bump with a charming and genuine smile, the first one that's been on his face in a long time as he goes in to shake Jessica's hand. "Bucky, my friends call me Bucky. It's good to finally meet someone who understands what I've been through while I'm in control of my own mind instead of someone else."

Jessica shares his smile as the handshake ends, then she pours another round of tea for the two of them to share as new friends. "I don't want to get so serious on you so soon after we just met, but I've got a job to do and orders from my boss to follow. He just wants to be sure you're happy where you are, and he needs to give you a warning not to cause or get into any trouble from now on, otherwise I will be forced to come after you again in less friendly manner. Understand, Bucky?"

Bucky chuckles again, then nods. "That's a sight I'd like to see someday, but I understand that your boss just wants to protect people. Don't worry, Jess, you won't hear a peep of trouble from me, I swear.  Now, will you help me patch up my wall?" Bucky asks, gesturing over to the Jessica shaped hole in the wall leading outside. "This place might be temporary for me, but I'd like to keep it tidy."

Jessica whines when she spots the hole herself. "Oh, yeah, we probably shouldn't have done that. You know what? I'll go to a hardware store for supplies and help you patch this wall tonight, I was supposed to keep an eye on you anyway. I just gotta know something, what's with the plums? I've seen you buy them in every place you've been, from Washington, DC all the way to Romina."

Bucky walks over to his nightstand for one of his notebooks and hands it to Jessica so can look it over while he explains. "On page 5, I write about a brief memory fragment I experienced once about the time I ate my mother's plum cobbler for the first time, so maybe more memories will come back to me if I recreate her recipe, but I haven't been able to get it right yet, and I'm hoping this metal arm is good for something other then causing pain, so I'm wondering if I can feel anything when I pick something up with this arm."

While reading Bucky's notebook, Jessica is totally surprised about how mundane and unremarkable the events he writes about truly are. She wasn't expecting the same amount of action as a James Bond novel, but she thought the events would be a little more colorful then writing how he completed his daily schedule efficiently like a teenager writing in his diary, but she guesses it helps him keep his mind straight after it has been put into a bender way too many times to count anymore, and Jessica can respect that as someone who's been is his shoes, just younger than she can even remember.

It doesn't take a genius to notice how completely enamored Jessica is with Bucky's journal and he can't even begin to wonder why. The journal is full of fragmented stories of a man that is just as broken as she is, someone who is trying to figure what kind of man he is after a life of pain is the only constant memory. Still, he doesn't try taking it away from her because if there's a fight he can avoid, he will, without question. "You can keep reading it while you're out at the store, if you want. I won't take offense, just make sure to give it back once your done." 

"Fair enough, thank you, Bucky, but this outfit is already tight as it is so I'm going to give it back to you for now and maybe finish it later. Do you think you can whip something up for dinner while I'm out at the store? Settle in, we're in for a long night together and not in the way you're probably thinking because I'm more into girls anyway." Jessica smiles cheekily, her eyes shifting to the paper bag of groceries behind Bucky as she hands the notebook back to Bucky, then she turns around and prepares to exit through the same hole she made her forced entrance before Bucky calls her attention back.

 "Jessica, please wait a second..." He is quiet for a long moment as he is unsure of what he wants to say to her or if he actually believes in his next words because he knows they will be as much for her benefit as they will be for his. "We are not HYDRA's worthless mistakes, far from it, we're survivors. Just remember that, please because I may need a reminder one of these days."

* * *

SHIELD Underground Headquarters, London branch - 2017.

God, Jessica working hates the late-night graveyard shift. Even though Nick placed her in charge of her own SHIELD base that was last used in the days of the Blitz, she is convinced the act was punishment for something she isn't sure she did or not because she doesn't know how many more of her coworkers stories in the breakroom she can take. It isn't that the stories are down right terrible or boring, it's that she can't relate to them in any form when she doesn't have a wife, a child, or even a cat to call her own, so she left at the mercy of the people who do.

Tonight, she is subjected to one of her coworkers, Ethan Taylor go on and on about his daughter or something else entirely, she doesn't really know at this point, but her spy training has made her a great expert in faking interest anyway as the coworker shows a picture of his blonde-haired and bright-eyed young adult on his phone. "This is Daisy, and she is the absolute light of my life. She is beginning university in the fall on a football scholarship and my wife and I believe she an excellent chance and potential to become a pro athlete someday. We're extremely proud of her."

Finally, Jessica's salvation from the one-sided conversation comes in the form of another SHIELD Agent bursting into the breakroom at full speed and out of breath, deep panic spread across her face. "Madam, do you remember those battle sites over New York and Wakanda you tasked me with keeping an eye on?" Jessica nods, springing to life out of her chair ready for action. "Well, you won't believe what's happening right this second."

Maybe it because she been hanging around Nick for way too long and when a giant donut-sized ship appeared in New York from outer space, Jessica became paranoid that the world was ending before her very eyes as she prepared herself for it, but nothing in the world could have ever prepared her for what's happening when she reaches the main monitor room and watches in horror as the world's once plentiful population of 7.53 billion keeps dropping by hundreds out of nowhere with no cause as to why, only leaving piles of dust in their wake.

"What is happening? Can anyone please tell me you're able to get a good read on the situation?" Jessica asks, looking to her coworkers for answers when she is at a loss.

She can tell by the shared expression of fear and confusion on all of her coworkers' faces that they don't have an answer either, but the person sitting at the work station next to her tries to explain to the best of his ability, only to come up short. "We don't know. The best we can tell is that half of the world's entire population is turning to dust at random. We have no idea why this happened or if the worst is yet to come."

"I would say it about to get worse. What is happening to me, madam?" Now the panic has spread to the same agent Jessica was talking to moments ago reaches out for her help in a matter they begin to understand as Ethan's entire body turns into a brown clay dust that fades away in the wind with the slightest of breezes, much to Jessica's shock and horror while she tries her best to hold onto a man in his final seconds alive.

Ethan isn't the only one who fades into dust because as soon as he goes, so does the agent next to him, followed by the row of people sitting at their work stations trying to get the tiniest of grips on the situation alongside Jessica herself, but it's no use when her entire staff has turned to dust without her consent or requesting time off work first.

 Jessica intently stares at herself in the reflection of a computer screen with the expectation that she will fade away and die as well. Hell, she welcomes death, almost begs for it to come for her, but death would be too kind for someone like her. No, her hell is to live in a world of pain without anyone she loves by her side. She punches the screen because she doesn't care for the person reflected in it before whipping out her phone to call Nick because there is no question, this situation definitely qualifies as Code Red.

After a moment of impatient pacing, she is met with Fury's rather dispassionate voicemail greeting in her ear and she hangs up without answers, making Jessica scared beyond belief for the only man who's been a constant father-figure in her life, but that's no longer the case, so she strokes a few keys on her phone to engage all of security measures hiding the base as she walks through the underground tunnels until she stops at the hanger of sleek Quinjets to make sure they are still operational before she unlocks a hidden brick door mechanism that leads her to the tube system as a flood of pedestrians and emergency workers rush past her in both directions after a fiery train crash.

It's only when Jessica reaches street level, does she realizes of how the destruction caused by this dusting event wasn't contained to the base, it's grown well beyond containable in a matter of minutes as she witnesses cars crash into one another without their drivers and planes fall out of the sky with their pilots. There's no telling how far this destruction spreads, but she can tell this event is bigger than the Battle of New York, or Ultron and Sokovia, this is a true extinction-level event unlike the world's ever seen. Jessica would dare to call it biblical if she believed in that sort of thing.

In all of the chaos surrounding Jessica, she is able to grab an overturned motorcycle and drive through the gridlock of traffic all the way to the park hiding her dead drop location without a helmet because she doesn't have time for those when the world has ended, so she skids the bike on the grass once she has arrived there, then she breaks into a sprint and lands on the underside of the bridge, where she unlocks a small brick compartment hiding a metal strongbox with a SHIELD logo printed on its lid.

The box was put in place if she ever needed to disappear with a new life and it contains a backpack, a few passports, credit and debit cards connected to false bank accounts, the small stash of weapons she can sneak past airport security or a border crossing, and one of Nick's pagers. The tech is a bit outdated, but it may be the only way she can get a hold of his last known location.

She knows Nick activated his worst case scenario in the famous Captain Marvel that Jessica has only heard about from Nick's stories as a child, it's what she would do and maybe she will finally have a chance to meet her because Jessica's pager is always connected to the one Nick carries on his person at all times, which is connected to the one the Captain carries to respond to emergencies like this.

The connection between devices happens almost instantaneously and it lists Nick's last known coordinates somewhere in Atlanta, Georgia, so it would seem like Jessica is going state-side for answers, luckily, she has a hanger full of Stark designed supersonic jets at her disposal and amazing flight training, which is standard for any HYDRA operatives in the field, she just wonders if she can remember the one good thing to come out of so much torture  

Once she has what's needed for this journey packed into her backpack, Jessica swifts makes her way back to the SHIELD hanger bay and syncs the jet with her phone in one of steps she takes in order to fly with nothing on her mind except the mission because if she doesn't think of that, her emotions will be compromised. Jessica shuts out her emotions for the mission and doesn't dare think about Nick and everyone else who are lost, or the fact that she doesn't have a plan once she lands in Georgia, but it's kind of difficult to come up with one of those soon after this decimation event. Jessica isn't a praying woman in any sense, but she says a small one as she takes off towards her destination and she just hopes this Captain Marvel that Nick has talked up so much can arrive in time to bring hope back to the world.

"When I drift off, I will dream about you. It's always you."

The harrowing words leave Tony Stark's lips with a heavy amount of reluctance as finishes the last message to his Iron Man helmet and breathes in a small amount of air that he has left within the Guardians' spacecraft while he left adrift in space millions of miles above Jessica's head. To say that Tony was defeated in a fight against Thanos is a vast understatement in his eyes, no, he gave everything he had to draw a single drop of blood from The Mad Titan and his actions still wasn't enough to stop his friends and allies from dying right in front of him, including a teen protégé he saw as a surrogate son while he was left behind to contemplate his colossal failure

Tony doesn't care that Nubia is close when regret waits for no one and he has tons of those as he faced with his immanent death, who wouldn't? Most of all, he wouldn't have been so careless with his own life in his younger days, he should've paid more attention to  Pepper and been less obsessed about his suits, he should've trained Peter closely so the boy ready for Thanos, he should've been more grateful for his parents while they were alive, and he should've apologized and talked everything out with Steve sooner because the end of the world is no place to be so stubborn.

Still, he feels as if his life will end on a thoughtful note and Tony feels strangely at peace with that as he is witness to breathtaking and ever-changing colors of different galaxies around him. He was right about his message, part of the journey is the end and if this is how he goes out, then so be it.

He slowly finds himself unable to enjoy the vivid colors before his eyes once the exhaustion he's been trying to fight off finally begins to take its heavy toll on him and he can't keep his eyes open much longer, so he doesn't try anymore. He just hopes he passes in his sleep because he figures suffocating to be the worst way to go.

A few jump points away, Carol Danvers files through the cold vacuum of space with ever increasing speed using her red and blue StarForce flight suit to keep herself together while the 'old reliable' pager is clenched tightly within her fist as a reminder to hurry back to Earth and meet with an old friend in the hopes of solving a universe spanning catastrophe. Although, she does make a special effort to search any powerless spacecrafts for stranded passengers along the way.

Finally, her search yields its first results when she comes upon the Milano belonging to the infamous Guardians of the Galaxy. She had heard of the team's heroic exploits in her travels across the vast cosmos and she always had a feeling like their paths would intersect someday, so there is a first time for everything as she knocks on the windshield to surprise a complete stranger.

"Hey buddy, are you okay? Are you lost?" She asks, speaking with a muffed tone and waving at Tony through the glass. "Can you please let me in? I can help you get back to where you need to be."

Tony can only nod shakily when he is face to face with another human being after so many days adrift before he stumbles to feet and disengages the locking procedures to allow Carol to enter as she files towards the rear of the ship. A smile finds its way on Tony's lips once he is able to his greet savior in person the ship's entrance with an outstretched hand . "My name is Tony Stark, aren't you a sight for sore eyes. I never I'd see another human being before I died, you are human, right? No offense."

"I am, more or less. I'm Carol Danvers." Carol smiles, shaking Tony's hand in return as she allows her blonde hair to flow once her red helmet reseeds back into her suit. "And by the way you just referred to me as human, I'm assuming you're from Earth as well and probably stranded out here with no means of returning, unless someone on the planet figured out how to travel this far in the last 22 years that I've been away, I think that's how long It's been. I can't really tell since the Kree implanted false memories when they found me... Anyway, I can take you and this ship back there if you want, it's where I'm headed anyway to follow up a message I got from this." She says, presenting the pager.

"Whoa, retro tech, it's impressive you managed to hold onto it for so long. That being said, can I see it for a minute?" Carol is cautious of Tony's intentions, but she needs new allies in order to solve this crisis, so she hands the device over while wishing she could remember what her mother said about making new friends in grade school. With one look at the pager, Tony can tell it's from a long gone era, but it's the screen flashing with the Code: Fury, and the SHIELD logo on the back that catches his interest the most. "This is a SHIELD pager, where'd you get it? From Nick Fury? He's always had backup plans for his backup plans for as long as I've known him?"

"You know Nick, too? Wow, small universe, I guess." Carol asks in a tone of great surprise because she never thought she would meet another person from Earth this deep into outer space, let alone someone who has a personal connection to her old boss, leading her to extend her fist for him to bump, but she retracts it when a serious question comes across her mind. "Wait, do people still do this on Earth?"

Tony nods. "Yeah, they fist bump, dab, twerk, and do all sorts of dance moves these days, I'll show all of them once we get back to Earth, when do you think that'll happen by the way? I'm only asking because I might die soon if I don't have food or water and Nebula is concerned. Right, Nebula?" His claim isn't helped much when Nebula looks up from sharpening her knives, then nods curtly and goes back to her task as if no one was there, like she's been doing all day long

"I'll get you there in a jiffy, I got some Macgyvering to do." Carol quickly finds a large amount of bungee rope laying nearby, which she ties one end around her torso, then holds the other end in her hand as her helmet reforms and she jumps out of the ship to interweave the rope in the windshield wipers before she and Tony share a thumbs up and she takes off with the speed of a jet because the twisting knot deep inside her stomach she makes her feel like she is flying in the Air Force for the first time.

The ship is creaky and slow moving to start with after being stationary for the past few days until the rope tided to the front goes taut and the ship soars through space thanks to Carol's near limitless strength and speed, causing Tony to nearly loose his balance as he grabs his Iron Man helmet and turns it on again to deliver last message before he returns home.  "Hey Pep, looks like I will be able to say goodbye to you on my own terms and I promise you, I will make sure it's a good one."

Back on Earth, Jessica finally flies the QuinJet into Georgia airspace ready to get answers after hours of silence from Nick. She could have flown on a regular airplane, she has more than enough money for it, but she had a feeling there would have been many empty seats around her of the people who bought tickets before the dusting event. No, this journey is better taken by herself, her thoughts, and the onboard radio, at least she can pretend like everything is normal for a little while longer.

When she arrives at Nick's coordinates, she has a difficult time finding a place to land among so much rubble and destruction, leading to leave the ship in hover mode and hop out and search the street for the pager using a homing ping noise from her own. The louder the noise becomes, the faster Jessica sprints to the location that she believes Nick to be hidden behind a tall chunk of rubble and she hopes he hasn't responded because Nick is trapped underneath something, but her hopes are swiftly dashed when she walks around the rubble and is met with a pile of dust where he once was and his version of the pager beeping in unison with hers.

Jessica represses her emotions and tries her best to keep focused on the mission because that's what is expected of her, but she feels a deep anger inside of her begin to push its way to the surface. She came here in search of answers, only to have more questions and a need to have revenge against the person who did this.

As it just so happens, the coordinates where Jessica stands is a popular place to hang out because she pulls her pistol out from behind her when she is met with some alien spacecraft appearing from outer space being pulled by a mysterious, yet strong woman that makes Jessica weak in the knees. But after what happened today, she can't afford to be friendly with strangers as the ship lands close and crushes some cars beneath it.

"Who are you and why are you here?" Jessica asks, pointing the gun at Carol's head as her helmet fades once they get closer to each other before Jessica slowly begins to recognize the woman with her wavy blonde bob hairstyle, light brown eyes, a blue and red otherworldly suit, as the hero Captain Marvel just like Nick described her in the thousands of times he told Jessica the bedtime story as a kid. What he failed to describe is how breathtakingly beautiful the woman truly is, so much so that Jessica is completely smitten immediately. "Oh, my god, you're finally back! The woman from Nick's story. Captain Marvel!"

Carol crooks her head at an angle in fascination of the gorgeous woman standing before her. She certainly has a large nerve to be pointing a gun at her without knowing what she is capable of, but there is a bevy of emotions hidden within her piercing green eyes. Anger, fear, confusion, a small amount of joy and a heavy amount of pain, that's something Carol would like to take time to understand and heal personally. Now, she must get onto the task at hand as she spots Nick's pager in Jessica's hand. "Where did you get that pager? Where's Nick Fury?"

 Jessica sighs with a heavy amount of reluctance because she knows this is about to become very real for her as she puts her gun away, then steps aside to reveal a pile of dust behind her, much to Carol and Tony's total shock, the ladder of whom is walking out of the Milano and towards the group with Nebula's help in his weakened state. "You three are looking at all that's of him and Agent Hill. Look, allies are in short supply as it is, so I'm going to tell who I am in the hopes that we can be friends. My name is Jessica Drew and I'm a secret SHIELD Agent very close to Nick personally. He's been with me through every important moment in my life, now I want to know who took him away?"

"Thanos." Tony announces gravely, looking up and seeing a QuinJet in hover mode above his head and he finally smiles when hoping there will be food in the jet. "I'm hoping you know who I am by now and if not, I'll explain everything later once I'm rested. Now, I have a serious question, Jessica, do you have any food on that jet?"

"Yeah, I've got some ration packs stashed. Let me help you." Jessica pulls her phone out and turns the jet around so it's in front of her and Tony with the exit ramp hanging down before she uses her spider abilities to launch them inside with ease, followed by Nebula, and lastly, Carol, who is completely awe struck by the jet's advanced tech that is far greater than anything she had in her day as a pilot. Jessica sees Carol's wonder as she hands a bottle of water and ration pouch to Tony and before addressing her "I need to look after Tony, so can you fly something like this, Captain? Nick told me as a child that you were trained as a U.S Airforce Pilot."

Carol shakes her head, looking at the new and advanced controls like they're written in some other language beyond her understanding. "Nothing this new, truth be told, I haven't flown any planes in two decades since I unlocked my hidden Kree heritage and the flight abilities it comes with."

"Don't worry, Agent Drew. Nebula can look after me while you teach her how to fly this jet." Tony says, speaking up from the background before looking Nebula with a joking smile. "At least it gives her a chance to work on her bedside manner."

"Well, it looks like I'm your girl." Jessica says with a beautiful smile at Carol before her eyes widen when realizes her mistake as she steps in front of the flight controls while Carol sits down in the pilot's chair behind her. "Let me disengage hover mode and close the main door, then you can use this lever to left to control the throttle while using this wheel to stir. Got me?"

"Oh, I got you." Carol reaches around Jessica to hold the throttle control in one hand while the other grasps the stirring wheel as the speed of the jet slowly increases to the point where the sudden G-Force sends Jessica flying directly back into Carol's lap while she struggles to gain control. After a minute of slow breathing and remembering her Air Force training, Carol is able to get the jet into a level position and flying normally so much so that she feels a need to joke about her and Jessica's current predicament. "Now I've really got you, babe, and it would be a shame if you were go away so soon."

Carol's remark is met with a flirty and somewhat confused smirk on Jessica's lips, but she still doesn't move off Carol's lap, leading Carol to try and back track as they inch ever so closer to one another. "I mean, you're right about this jet being advanced, I need you to stick close to me while I get a feel for her capabilities."

"Right, sticking close." Jessica slowly removes herself from Carol and finds a seat next to her before she looks back at Tony. "Where do you want to be taken, Mr. Stark?"

Tony is silent for a moment to think, but there is only one place he wants to go back to since the second he found himself on a space ship or in Siberia two years ago. "Take me home to the Avengers facility in upstate New York, it's way past time to make amends."

Things aren't better there either. The four original Avengers present are all set about doing their own tasks to avoid talking about their defeat. Bruce and Rhodey are busy cataloging the dead or missing at Thanos' Snap while Natasha leads her own search for survivors, Thor is sulking over how he should've gone for the head, and Steve has finished shaving off his beard as he does some thinking of his own. He is a man who has 70 years of regrets, most of the regret coming in the last few days, he should've taken precaution to get the Mind Stone out of Vision to stop Thanos from snapping his fingers and he should've apologized to Tony sooner because the only way to fight a man like The Mad Titan is as a fully unified team.

His thoughts are interrupted when Natasha storms in into the bathroom with a look of shock on her face. "Steve, come with me, there's something you'll want to see." Steve follows her very closely to the common area where they're witness to a holographic camera feed on the front porch as Scott Lang and a little girl stand outside doing wild gestures to grab the Avengers' attention while a cool brownish van is parked behind them.

"Ah, hi, is anyone home? This is Scott Lang, we met a few years ago... at the airport... in Germany, and I got really big. Ant-Man, I know you know that, that's me. Can you buzz me in?"

"Is this an old message?" Steve asks, his eyes never leaving the screen.

"It's the front door." Natasha responds.

Steve is already sprinting away by the time Natasha's sentence is finished because the joy he feels over the confirmation of another long lost ally being alive is so overwhelming that he almost hugs Scott when answering the door, but he restrains himself with a grateful handshake as he leads the two inside. "Oh, my god, Scott! I can't believe you're alive! How did you survive The Snap?"

"What Snap?" Today's events slowly dawn on Scott all at once and he has to sit down to absorb it. Suddenly, everything makes perfect sense as to why none of his friends were able to pull him out of the Quantum Realm. He looks at Steve for any sense of stability, only to see a broken man where he once saw his hero. "I don't really know. I was Subatomic in a place called the Quantum Realm collecting healing particles for someone and when I was done, I asked to be pulled out by my friends, but no one responded. So, I somehow managed to free myself using my sizing tech, then grabbed my daughter from my ex's place and drove here to ask for your help. What are we going to do to get everyone back because I lost those friends I told you about?"

Cassie waves at Steve and Natasha, and they wave at her as they go onto explain everything before they're interrupted by the whirring sound of a QuinJet engine winding down as it touches the landing pad near the balcony outside, leading everyone to rush outside when Tony and Nebula are slowly walking to meet them while he holds his Iron Man helmet in his hands as they followed by two unknown individuals.

Both Steve and Tony feel deep remorse for they had done to the other, all of their animosity is pushed aside to be worked out another day because it hardly matters who's wrong or right when the dust left behind by the half of the universe settles, and Steve is the first to demonstrate that fact by joining Tony in a much overdue hug. "Welcome home, old friend. I missed you,"

"Missed you too, Cap, I missed all of you. As it turns out, space is a pretty lonely place to die." Tony can see most of friends over Steve's shoulder as the hug ends, Rhodey, Bruce, Thor, Nat, even Scott, but there is one person who isn't there while also being the person he wants to see the most. "Where's Pepper?"

Rhodey steps forward to put Tony's mind at ease. "She's sleeping here after exhausting herself while trying to figure out where you flew off to in that spaceship. Do you want to wake her?"

"No, I'll wake her once we're finished saving the universe and getting the rest of our friends back from the dead, she's always goes easier on me when I do that. Which is why I brought new friends with me." Tony turns around and gestures at the two woman behind as he introduces them." This is Carol Danvers, she's been in outer space for, like, ever, and this Jessica Drew, she's a former SHIELD Agent who was close to Nick Fury before he turned to dust. She hasn't really elaborated on how she knows Nick, but they're here to help."

"On that note, does anyone know what we're up against?" Carol asks, pulling out her pager and showing it to the rest of the heroes as they walk inside. "I received this message from Nick while I fighting some Skrulls  before they disappeared in mid fight, so I immediately flew back to Earth and picked up Tony along the way. Can anyone tell me who did this?"

Tony takes the opportunity to plug in his half destroyed helmet to show a holographic image taken from their fight on Titan of Thanos gritting his teeth at the helmet camera in midair as he is about to bare down on Tony with his gigantic fist, followed by an image of the Infinity Stones and a brief description of the Stone's function as they float over the team's heads. "Long story short, this is Thanos, he used every dirty trick in the book to retrieve the Stones..."

"Then he snapped his fingers to wipe out half of the universe, taking some of our friends along the way." Steve adds. "But we'll get bring them back, I know we will, so does anyone have ideas of how get the Gauntlet from Thanos without him using the Stones on us in the process?"

"We can use time travel before he gets ahold of the Stones." Scott says, raising his hand and causing everyone to look at him disbelief over what he said. "Before I went into the Quantum Realm portal in the back of my van, a friend told me not to get trapped in a time vortex and I think some of us can use it to time travel and grab a Stone. The question is, which Stone? Thanos is bad news, so I bet we'll have one chance to grab a single Stone before he comes after us to get it back, and who could use the glove to get everyone back once we manage to pull it away from him?"

An immediate argument breaks out between Tony, Thor, and Nebula with Tony saying he can create an armor to harness the Stones' power, Thor saying he can modify Storm Breaker to do the same thing to finally kill Thanos and get his revenge for Loki, and Nebula saying she can wield the gauntlet because even if she were die in the process, she had nothing to live for anyway.

As the verbal sparring is about to reach a breaking point, Jessica steps away to study the effects of the Infinity Stones and the possibilities of counteracting them, but it's another holographic screen displaying pictures of the dead that catches her eyes the most, because she can't believe Bucky Barnes is among them. Bucky was always a survivor like her, so who the hell allowed him to die? She clenches her fist in anger, this decimation has already taken her father and all of her coworkers away, now it's taken her HYDRA Buddy, the only person who can truly understand her. Now, she's wondering if she can rip Thanos' head from his shoulders and punt it into space.

Finally, the debate gets to be too much for Carol and she uses her powers to punch the floor, sending a small shockwave of energy that silences everyone before she speaks herself. "Enough! I'm capable of harnessing the Stones in the Gauntlet against Thanos without harming myself. Before you guys shoot me down, I once ended The Kree/Skrull War with nothing except my wit and the immense power from my own two hands, so beating him will be a piece of cake."

"Marry me, please." Jessica says, completely memorized by Carol and her rippling muscles that are very present beneath her skintight leather uniform, causing Carol to give a tiny smile with blushing cheeks as the rest of the team looks at Jessica in disbelief. "What? I said it, and I would say it again in a heartbeat if given a chance because she is gorgeous. Anyway, I figured out what Stone grab."

"Tony, from your description of the stones, am I correct in assuming the blue one allows the user to travel anywhere in the universe at will?" Tony nods, and she continues. "I promised myself that I wasn't going to half ass my life any longer when I became a SHIELD Agent and a teacher, so I studied every bit of SHIELD history going back to its inception until I joined in 2014, including The Avengers. I know the Tesseract was in SHIELD's possession for decades until the aftermath of the Battle of New York. If a small group grabs the Stone in 1945, that means Thanos will have to take the long way back here, giving us time to prepare for the next attack. What do you guys say?"

"It's a good plan, and it's crazy enough that it just might work, which is why I'm coming with you. No one here knows 1945 like me and I know exactly where to look." Steve places an encouraging on Jessica's shoulder before addressing the group as a leader again. "Alright, one problem is solved since Thor gave back the container holding the Tesseract after returning home from New York, so we can use it again now. Scott, how long will it take to retrofit one of our jets with your sizing tech?"

"A few hours at most." Scott says before pointing at Bruce and Tony. "I can do the mechanical work, but I'll need them to work out the scientifics."

Steve nods while stepping over to Natasha. "You've been tracking our surviving friends, do you think you can find Clint? We're gonna need all hands on deck for this fight. Everyone else, prepare for Thanos the best you can because we lost friends, we lost family, we lost apart of ourselves, but this is the fight of our lives and if we can't bring our friends back, we'll make damn sure to avenge them."

Everything goes into overdrive once the teams split off to complete separate tasks and Steve can barely handle loosing good friends in the Snap, only to be presented with the possibility of bringing them back to life so soon, his only comes in the forms of his oldest possessions. He can't help but smile at the tiny photo of Peggy kept inside his wartime compass as he sits inside the QuinJet waiting for Scott to finish installing his tech while Jessica prepares to fly the craft.

Natasha is preparing another jet to fly in the hanger next to theirs when she sees Steve as she exits her own jet and decides to kneel down at his eyeline to say goodbye before going their separate ways. "Hey, I'm about to fly to Tokyo to find Clint and I just wanted to say... good luck. This is gonna work, Steve."

Steve closes the compass and places it in his pocket before looking at her solemnly as he comes to terms with the mission at hand. "I know it is, because I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't."

"Cap, we're ready." Scott announces before kissing Cassie's forehead and waves goodbye to her as she leaves the jet with Natasha. Once the trio gets seated and buckled in with their gear ready, Scott engages the sizing controls as Jessica begins take off. "Everyone, brace yourself. Downsizing in 3, 2, 1."

The queasiness Jessica feels because of her sudden size change is almost too much for her to handle, but she hunkers down and holds the wheel tightly to guide the shaky jet into the Quantum Realm with Carol speaking to Jessica over the commlink in her ear as the trio flies through the miniaturized tunnel in the back of Scott's van. "Be careful and don't die, Jessica. I still haven't answered your proposal yet."

Jessica blushes, silently cursing at Carol for failing to remember that the commlink is open to the rest of The Avengers, but expertly keeps her cool with a measured tone. "I will, Carol. You too. I'll miss you."

In the time Scott has been Ant-Man, he has explored the Quantum Realm a small number of times with the help of Hope and Hank, so he is able to help Jessica navigate the mysterious realm as the trio shrinks smaller and smaller until they reach the ever expending void of darkness and he must calm down the others from freaking out when the jet begins to feel cramped.

"Hey, everyone calm down. This is pretty normal, now I've gotta push this big red button and we'll be off, I hope." Scott takes control as a copilot and presses a button in the center console, then leads the jet through the black expanse where Steve and Jessica are witness to a whole world full of hidden colors and life, but the trio isn't here to see the sights. From Janet's detailed notes on time travel, Scott is able to deduce what swirling vortex leads to the past and what swirling vortex leads to death, causing Scott to breath deeply and hope for the best.

He guesses he chose the right vortex when the time dial on the dashboard counts backwards by decade from the current year. Slowly but surely, the jet is swimming up the river of time against a powerful current that is doing everything to push them back with turbulence. It's only when they reach the 1960's, does Scott notice something out of the ordinary in the form of another aircraft that seems ready to travel in outer space, only the craft is far more advanced than anything NASA had in that era. He thought Janet was the only one trapped in this realm, but he swears that he can make out the silhouettes of four fully grown adults and a baby all kept in perfect stasis without aging or moving on from the decade because of the state their damaged craft is in.

A proximity alarm forces Scott out of his own head and back to reality once the trio reaches the right time and he has to deploy the landing gear to slow the jet's acceleration once they go through another vortex leading straight for 1945. Luckily, their rather glorious entrance is well hidden by the cover of nightfall as Scott files the jet overhead, delighting a child who is stuck in traffic with her parents before he is able to roughly land the jet in a dark alleyway across the street.

The occupants of the jet stay in their seats motionless as they wait to see if the roller-coaster ride from hell is over or if the worst is yet to come and if Jessica was a betting woman, she would put her money on the ladder because of her nature to prepare for the worst, but the jet is stationary and upright as it should be, so that's something to be counted in the positive column as she swallows her vomit and unbuckles herself to check on Scott while he is seemly unconscious in the seat next to her. "Mr. Lang?... Scott?! Are you alive?!"

The sensation of Jessica's hand on his is enough for Scott to jolt awake suddenly before he takes a few sharp breathes until the blurry image of Jessica inquisitively looking back at him comes into focus. "Yeah, Yeah, I think I'll be good in a minute, I'm just getting my bearings. Just out of curiosity, did anyone else beside me see that weird 1960's-ish ship back in the time stream?" Jessica shakes her head in response as she gives him a hand up out of his seat, so he turns to Steve. "What about you, Steve? You okay?"

Steve doesn't answer as he stands from his seat and slowly walks over to the windshield to have a look outside at the laundry hanging from a clothesline high above his head instead. His eyes follow the line all the way over until they connect with a vintage ad for soda pop printed on a tall brick and mortar building, just the sight of the building causes his breath and hands to tremble as he takes out his compass to look at Peggy once more before he looks at Scott and Jessica with tears welling in his eyes because he thought he'd have a chance to go back to the old Brooklyn neighborhood he missed so much.

"I'm home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to break in this chapter into two because didn't want everything I set up in this chapter to seem rushed just because I wanted to end things without boring my audience. So I'm going to take my time to flush things out even more, including the mystery of the five travelers trapped in the Quantum Realm. I think you guys are going to enjoy the reveal of who they really are.


	4. The First Last Dance.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers make their last stand against The Mad Titan for all of the universe, and new relationships are forged as long gone ones are rekindled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have much to say to say this time around except to say that this chapter will wrap up the plot of the last chapter. I hope you all enjoy the surprises I have in store.

* * *

In order for Natasha to find Clint, she must follow the same trail of breadcrumbs he left behind before he disappeared off of the Avengers' radar. It's easier said than done when those breadcrumbs are spread across four dozen safehouses in as many countries, only the tracker in Clint's gear shows him checking in and bowing out of the houses with a heavy stockpile of weapons before she has a chance to intercept him, leading Natasha to do what she has dreaded doing since she took on this mission to find one of her oldest and dearest friends.

She lands the Quinjet a healthy distance away from the Barton Farmhouse with the expectation of Laura and the kids running out to greet her after hearing the noisy engines power down, but no one is seen and the area is silent, so she uses the long way to the front door as a time to reflect on the events of the last few days. Thanos seemed to sap all hope from the world alongside those who turned to dust when he snapped his fingers, only for a small measure of hope to return to the Avengers in the form of new allies. While Carol remains a mystery yet to be solved, she can at least trust Jessica due to their shared history as SHIELD agents and their shared connection with Nick Fury, even if Jessica or Nick never alluded to such a close relationship around the office.

Natasha forces her thoughts to be silent as she approaches the door and prepares to knock, only to notice that door has already been kicked in from outside, so she stalks through the house more cautiously than before with a pistol drawn at her side. Upon entering the house, she finds it difficult to focus in a nearly pitch-black environment and almost trips over what she assumes to be one of the kids' toys, but she kneels down to look at a crudely broken ankle monitor that once belonged to Clint.

Her senses are heightened when she hears footsteps creak beneath the floorboards, then she draws her attention to the sound and is met by someone coming at her with a arrow flying at her from upstairs, causing Natasha to dodge roll out of the way before putting her arms up to block a bow from hitting her face as she tries to reason with her friend. "Clint, it's me. It's Nat!"

No response, so Natasha goes on the offensive with a fury of strategic jabs to the pressure points on the arms that easily incapacitates her opponent into a crumpled mess of a person on the floor, where Natasha sees that the person isn't Clint at all, but a young teen girl with a frazzled expression her face to match her equally curly hair. "What the hell is your problem, lady?"

"I was about to ask you the same question. Where's Clint?" Natasha asks, letting her guard down and offering the girl a hand up. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kate Bishop, and your guess as to where Clint is as good as mine. My family's house is close and his daughter is on the same softball team that my little sister was on, but I never had a chance to meet him after he inspired me to take up archery when I saw and him and the rest of the Avengers battle those aliens in New York. When this decimation event went down, he was the first person I ran to, only he disappeared before I arrived so I thought I could housesit until he returned."

"I don't think he's coming back, at least not until I find him and we can fix this event with the rest of the Avengers." Natasha puts her gun away once she deems that Kate isn't a threat, watching the girl's expression grown deeply saddened upon learning that she missed out on meeting her hero, making Natasha afraid to ask her next question out of fear of offending her further. "Where's your parents? Are they okay with you staying here?"

Like Natasha feared, Kate's face transforms again and she looks on the verge of tears as she drops her bow before closing her eyes to stop the tears and shut out the painful memory of loosing her family all over again, leading Natasha to wrap her in a comforting hug. She sighs, it's clear she has to move on to Tokyo since Clint isn't here, but she can't in good conscious leave this girl alone in such a vulnerable state, so she picks up Kate's bow and keeps her close as they walk out to the jet together. "Come on, Kate. I think it's past time to meet your hero."

The time it takes them to fly to Tokyo is passed in relative silence with Natasha flying in comfortable rhythm while she tries to think of the right words in order to ease Kate's pain when she spots her desperately holding onto a picture of her family taken during happier times after her sister placed third in a soccer torment, what could she say? What could anyone say as comfort after an event like this? Natasha just prays Clint isn't in this bad of a state, but the mere thought of him dangerously lashing out in anger makes her hit the accelerator as far as it can go.

Kate seems to slightly perk up when they enter Tokyo airspace, fascinated by the vibrant neon signs illuminating the pedestrians walking on the streets below while Natasha activates Clint's SHIELD transponder. Even with the rain beginning to pour on the windshield, Natasha is able see the signal is transmitting in a heavy crowd of Yakuza members with their weapons drawn on a man in a black cloak in an alleyway of Tokyo's seedy underbelly, and the fight appears to be no contest at all as the cloaked man swiftly and systematically cuts down any opponents with his katana who dare come near him.

Natasha lands the jet in the adjacent alley and grabs an umbrella to shield herself from the now downpouring rain, speaking to Kate over her shoulder as she lowers the exit ramp and walks out. "Please stay here, there's no telling what state Clint is in and I don't want you getting hurt." It isn't hard for Natasha to find Clint once she knows where he is, all she has to do is follow the screams of the Yakuza members having their lives brutally snuffed out.

She finally arrives on the scene and watches in subdued shocked as Clint cuts down the last member, then cleans the blood off his sword using the cold steel of his black and gold arm gauntlets. "Clint!... The Avengers need you come in. Killing these idiots won't solve anything, but we can."

"It sure makes me feel better." Even before Clint reveals his face, Natasha can see the boundless pain and anguish his eyes convey through the eye slit of his cowl, but it's so much worse once he does remove his mask and appear as if he has aged a thousand years in grief, yet there's rage in his eyes that comes from trying to fix this disastrous event without all of the pieces. "What can the Avengers do to solve this, Nat? Can we bring back Laura? Or my kids? Whatever this is, it took my family and they've been apart of my life so long that I don't know what kind of person I am without them anymore."

"You're the hero who can help us bring them back, bring everyone we love back." Natasha's tone is one of measured calmness as she extends a helping hand to her friend that they both need right now so they can solve this crisis together. "Come with me, please. Those who are left at the Avengers compound have already begun to enact a plan to put everything back to the way it was before, but we need all hands on deck if it's truly going to work, including you."

Clint gives a long, heavy sigh and hangs his head in shame over what he's down when he knows Natasha is right. The two spend a moment in silence before Clint sniffles his tears up and nods in agreement to help, then he  puts his sword away on his back and speaks to Natasha while walking to the jet, but his tone is still devastatingly hopeless. "What else do I have left to lose?"

Kate rolls out of her seat and aims her bow ready to fire once she hears approaching the jet, only to realize it's Natasha and Clint as soon as the arrow leaves the bow string, but Clint nonchalantly catches it by the shaft and he almost seems impressed by her skills as he walks up to her while she tries introducing herself. "Oh, my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't know you guys were back already, that's getting off on the wrong foot, Mr. Barton. I'm Kate and a big fan, by the way."

"Clint." A cold, unfeeling response is all he offers the enthusiastic girl, bumping shoulders with her as he walks over to sit down behind Natasha while she does the same and powers up the jet. "How many of our friends am I expecting to see once we get to New York?" Clint asks, hoping Wanda is okay after she is like a another child to him.

"Um, Rhodey, Bruce, Tony, Thor, Scott. Plus, we picked up few some new friends along the way."

"And Steve? Where is he?"

* * *

"So, we made it?" Jessica asks, meeting Steve by the windshield and following his eyes as he looks around the alley where the team landed. "We're here in 1945, New York?"

"I'd say so." Steve's eyes still haven't the window and a smile slowly grows on his face as he takes in the sights of the old neighborhood buildings standing tall all around them, steel fire escapes fused with solid brick and mortar apartments, which has a clothesline of laundry connecting them. Jessica takes Steve at his words and goes to another section of the jet to search Steve's old footlocker for the appropriate era clothes he packed once he knew they going to travel back in time. She is finally able to grab Steve's attention when she tosses his own Army Dress uniform at him as a reminder of why they're here. "Oh right, the mission..."

"We'll make some brief time to explore once we're done, I promise. It's the least I can do after you let me stop at the department store to pick up a new dress that hopefully will pass for one from this time. What do you think?" She asks, presenting a sexy burgundy silk dress with a low back to slightly show her sunkissed skin and a long skirt that is cut at the hip. It's a dress that could any men swoon when they see Jessica wearing it, or any woman and that's exactly what she is hoping for.

 "Now, is that dress just for the mission, or answering a certain someone's proposal back home? Steve asks in a playfully teasing tone, confirming that the Avengers all heard Carol's goodbye over the comms. Jessica doesn't confirm or deny her intentions, she just turns away to hide her pink blushing cheeks and the smile threating to show itself on her lips as she goes back to the locker to grab clothes, but he rejects them while still wearing the Ant-Man suit.

"No need, I can shrink and hide in the breast pocket of Steve's uniform. I've also come up with a plan to get what we need, first thing's first." Scott goes back to the sizing console and grabs four watch-like devices from a hidden compartment before handing one to Jessica and Steve respectively and keeping the other two for himself.

"These are something Bruce, Tony, and I came up with before leaving and they're stored with Quantum Energy provided by the time portal we just went through, they're also linked to the portal in my van and they are our ticket home. Once the mission is over and we're back here, we all press the large button in the device's center and that much energy will open another time portal leading back home, the other device is a spare in case something goes wrong while we're doing this. Sounds easy-peasy, right?"

Both Steve and Jessica nod, fixing the devices to their wrists as Scott continues by tapping his helmet. "On to the plan, my helmet allows me to find and communicate with ants in the area so if Steve gives me a rough location on where the Tesseract is, I go inside with a recon ant and know for sure, then I'll go in while being tiny and grab the thing before anyone's the wiser. My suit can survive the harshness of the Quantum Realm, so I bet the energy given off by the cube will be piece of cake to handle."

"Sounds like a plan." Steve says, placing a hand on Scott's shoulder with a firm nod of agreement. "From the archive files, a friend of mine, Howard, found the cube while looking for me in the Artic and took it back to his lab here in Brooklyn for further analysis, which doubles as a proto SHIELD Base three blocks east of here, that's likely where it is now. Just give Jessica and I time to change into our disguises and we'll cover you from across the street."

Scott grabs the Tesseract container from a nearby compartment and takes that as a cue to wait outside, leaving Jessica and Steve alone as an awkward silence forms around after walks down the exit ramp with neither of them wanting to change while the other watching out of respect for their privacy, causing Jessica to speak up first with a solution. "You take one side of the jet, I take the other?"

"Agreed." Steve breathes in relief and dresses himself in the opposite direction of Jessica while she does the same, but only a moment passes when his mind finds itself tracing back to 2014 as he tries placing where he's seen her before. Finally, it hits him and he speaks up softly as not to frighten her. "Y'know, Nick would be proud of how you're handling this crisis, all things considered. You have a natural talent for leadership, Jessica."

He briefly turns around to see Jessica giving him wide eyes of shock, which causes him to chuckle as he explains. "He never talked about you, but I saw a photo of him at your college graduation in his office on the Triskelion before it went under and put two and two together once I saw you again. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."

"Thank you." Jessica tone is nothing but genuine before it transforms into one of heavy sadness when the pictures of the dead come back into her mind. "As long as we're speaking about those who are no longer here, I wanted to say sorry for the loss of your friend Bucky. While we only met once, we had a deep connection through our shared life experiences as he was one of my professors in the HYDRA School of Hard Knocks, class of 1996." She is silent for a long moment as she comes up with the right words to ease their troubled thoughts. "We'll get them back, all of them. I have to believe that, otherwise, what the hell are we trying to do here?"

Steve gives a smile telling Jessica that he agrees and appreciates her sentiment as they exit the jet, only for his smile disappear into shock and horror when he and Jessica see Scott mentally communicating with a human-sized Winged Carpenter ant like they're friends at a party while he has a newspaper in his hand. Scott pays no mind to the horrified expression on his teammates' faces as he shows them newspaper dated: August 14th 1945, detailing Japan's surrender and the end of the war.

"I took Cassie to your exhibit at The Smithsonian once and the official report says you disappeared February of this year, is the date a problem?"

"Possibly." Steve sighs, knowing he shouldn't be here, but his resolve stays strong for those who are gone because this mission has to succeed despite all the odds stacked against it, it just has to. "This doesn't change anything, we need to get the Tesseract above all else, whether I'm the one to grab it or not."

Scott nods, his helmet encompassing his head before he shrinks himself and his ant before climbing on its back to fly in the direction of Stark's lab with everything passing right in front of Jessica's eyes. "Let's ride, Susan B. Ant-hony!"

"Please tell me you saw that shit, too?" She asks in disbelief, perplexed by what just happened while Steve chuckles as they begin walking towards the lab.

"After 70 years on ice and another six years fighting alongside a man in an iron suit and a literal Norse God, you tend to roll with the punches."

Jessica does what spies do and tries building a cover for herself as she walks in case something goes wrong and she needs to step in if Scott is caught, but that's sort of difficult to do when she's always smiling confidently at the passing glances given to her by both men and women on the street. She is honestly so lost in her own head to realize Steve had stopped until she slams into his tall figure while he stands frozen in front old antique shop and drinks in its majesty. "What, Steve? Are we here already?"

He nods and points to a sleek candy apple red convertible in the parking lot to their left. "This is the lab where I participated in Project Rebirth. That car belongs to Howard, I once saw it hover at the '43 Stark Expo. Scott, you still here?" Steve's question is answered by Scott flying into his eyeline and giving a tiny thumbs-up with the mini Tesseract container hooked on his belt. "Okay, stick to the plan, get in and out without any commotion. We'll rush in if we hear something going wrong over comms."

"Got it, keep you posted." Scott's journey's with Susan begins by whizzing under Steve's legs and flying into the storm drain behind him. He then follows that path going due north in the sewer system until he spots the slightest amount of light being cast down on him as he enters the building by passing through another drain the men's restroom. "So far so good, guys. Now, I've gotta find my way to the lab."

After Scott is on solid ground, he resizes back to normal so he better understand his environment as he thinks of a plan, but what he wasn't expecting was a unknown scientist walking into the restroom and seeing Scott dressed like a spaceman from another world. Scott places his thumb on the sizing controls in his glove, expecting a fight when the scientist faints in shock, but this current predicament gives Scott an idea as collapses his helmet into his suit, then strips the scientist of his lab coat to wear it himself before taking off his gloves and placing them in the coat's pocket, along with the ant he entered with while he walks out of the restroom to explore the larger facility.

It doesn't take long for him to find his way to the main lab, he just follows his fellow scientists there and slips insides once the door lock is open as people enter and exit the room. He spots the cube being closely examined by two men, one a young man with sleek black hair and a pencil mustache, while the other man is much older with his gray hair swept back and his wrinkled skin firm on his face.

The older man is first to speak up once the cube shows no signs of change, feeling antsy while the end of war celebrations continue in Times Square. "Stark, we've been here for hours and my son just returned home from the war, I want to take him and my daughter-in-law out to dinner to celebrate. Can we pick this up tomorrow?"

"Sure." Howard sighs, rubbing his eyes tiredly before patting his colleague's shoulder. "I need some coffee, anyway. Show those kids a good time."

Once all scientists have walked out of the room, Scott puts his sizing gloves back on and takes Susan of his coat before abandoning it altogether when shrinking again with the Tesseract in sight. "Okay, I'm grabbing the cube now." He says, flying on the desk right next to his target, taking a moment to feel the low hum of energy the cube gives off before he throws a miniaturizing disc at the object to gently place it in the container, then he jumps back on the ant to fly out of the facility the same way he came in.

"I've got it, coming back to you guys now." Scott narrows his eyes in focus, aiming to exit in the crease between the double doors, only to be physically blindsided when the door suddenly reopens and Howard steps through, knocking Scott and Susan out of the air. Scott doesn't have time to mourn Susan as he lands underneath the desk cradling the Tesseract, he just hopes Howard fails to notice what's taken, but the sound of a mug crashing on the floor and the coffee slowly drifting towards him, doesn't fill Scott with the greatest confidence. "I've been made. Howard knows the cube has been taken."

"What?" Despite the current predicament, Steve remains calm as he and Jessica act as if they're in love while they inconspicuously read the newspaper Scott provided on a bench across the street from the building. "Jessica's on the way to you now, stay hidden where you are."

"I don't know if that's possible. Howard's called the M.P's in, they're beginning an extensive search for the cube." Sweat begins to run down Scott's face as he peeks out from behind a leg of the desk to see four M.P Officers stopping at lab's entrance with their rifles drawn. "Now they're blocking my way out. I can easily fight through them, but I'm gonna try something I've done before... to mixed results."

In an instant, Scott resizes himself and the Tesseract back to normal, shocking Howard and the M.Ps as he waves at them with the cube in his other hand. "Hi, I'm Scott."

"Christ! Did he just say, 'Hi, I'm Scott'?"

Jessica's question is answered by Steve already running towards the antique shop to save Scott, even if doing so means running in the middle of traffic and Jessica has no choice but to follow, almost being hit by a car and giving its driver quite a show of excellence before she joins Steve at the shop's door. With little time to lose, Jessica quickly incapacitates the shopkeeper behind the counter with a tiny Venom Blast to his neck before she gently catches and lays him on the floor as Steve pries open the bookcase hiding a secret base.

Both Steve and Jessica grow exceedingly nervous when they see that every pair of eyes in the base are on them, more importantly, Steve as everyone realizes he is the same man who disappeared months ago. Steve takes a moment to gather his thoughts before opening the doors to the science lab, where he is face-to-face with a man he only sees in Tony's actions nowadays. "Howard."

The voice is a gentle but commanding one of artist and a soldier, and Howard Stark would know it anywhere. Shock dawns on his face as he turns around to see his long lost friend walking towards him before he breaks into a sprint to embrace him halfway." Yo-you're here, like, really here? How? Reports say you crashed Schmidt's Valkyrie over the coast of Greenland, I've been leading an expedition to find you for months now."

"Technically, I'm still frozen in Greenland, and I'll remain that way for the next 70 years or so. I know this might sound insane, but my friends and I are on a team of heroes from the future and now we've come back here to retrieve the Tesseract to solve a crisis in our time. Please, Howard. I've lost too much already and I couldn't bare to see this place out of the memories it holds, that's why I sent Scott in." Steve gestures to Scott, and he waves again, but Howard's focus is clearly elsewhere.

"And who might you be, Ms.?" Howard's demeanor changes as he suavely saunters over to Jessica with a seductive smile before leaning down to kiss her hand. "Hi, maybe you've heard of me, Howard Stark. Tell me, are all the women on Steve's team as gorgeous as you?"

"Yes, and so is my gal back home," Jessica's fake smile quickly disappears into an annoyed, impatient scowl as she yanks her hand away. "Can we please have the cube or not?"

Howard nods, allowing Scott to rejoin his group with the Tesseract container on his belt. "You guys can have it, Steve. So long as you bring it back here once your mission is over so I can continue my research into its properties. Maybe we can catch up then."

"I'm sorry..." Steve goes silent for a moment and he soon develops a two-thousand yard stare as he speaks. "My mission takes precedence and their are a lot of people counting on me and my team back home so this will likely be the last time we ever see each other, which is why this goodbye is so hard and it's going to be even more difficult when I have to say goodbye to Peggy. Where is she? Even though it's Saturday, I thought all this commotion would've alerted her that something's going on."

Now Howard is the one with a crestfallen expression, biting his lip as he debates telling Steve what he knows, but with Steve here and now, it seems like Howard's only course of action. "She's in the same place she is every Saturday night since you disappeared, The Stork Club in Manhattan. She'll be there until closing time."

At Howard's words, Steve sprints back down the hall and boards the elevator to the shop without another thought as everything else completely leaves his mind and Peggy reenters, leaving Scott and Jessica to catch up with Scott taking a lab coat again so hide his suit on the way out. The air feels thin around Steve once he returns to the street, like it did when he learned about being unfrozen in modern times as he looks at 1940's New York without his tunnel-vision on the mission. All of this feels like a dream to him, but it won't be complete without Peggy, so he take off in the direction of the club while gaining more speed as he goes because Steve promised Peggy a date and it's way past for him to deliver.

"Scott, take these and follow me." Jessica gives Scott little warning as she removes her heels and tosses them at him before they give chase after Steve on the street. Following a super-soldier isn't difficult when Jessica is one herself, but it's not a cakewalk either when she can't use her powers in the open without drawing attention. Finally, she knows her strategy must change once the distance between her and Steve grows ever more apparent, so she ducks in an alley and gives Scott a strange order. "Shrink so I can carry you in my hand. We need to move."

He complies instantly, because Jessica honestly scares him right now, hearing Jessica mutter something as she picks him, then she runs up the building using her spider abilities. "I can't believe I have to do this in a skirt again." Through speed, grit, and sure force of will, Jessica is able to keep pace with Steve from the rooftops, her anger growing steadily over Steve's carelessness for himself and others as she tries to get a fix on where The Stork Club is to head him off at the pass.

He seems to cut them a break once he goes inside the club, giving Scott a chance to grow back to normal in the alley while Jessica  goes inside to confront her suddenly neglectful teammate. "Hey remember us? You know as well as anyone in a leadership role that you don't leave your team in the lurch!" Steve doesn't respond and Jessica is unsure if he's listening as Scott enters wearing his lab coat, so she asks what's wrong as Steve stands frozen among a sea of ruckus patrons dancing to swing music with his eyes scanning for one woman in particular. "Steve, you okay?"

Still no answer. Instead, his eyes dart frantically around around the club as Steve is helplessly unable to stop himself from silently reliving Wanda's nightmare vision, because he's waiting for the other shoe to drop, he's waiting for the loud music to die and the people to fade away into an unspoken grief while he left alone in a room full of empty chairs at empty tables.

"Is that her?... Agent Peggy Carter? I remember reading about her during my SHIELD training." It isn't difficult for Jessica to follow Steve's gaze to it's conclusion cast upon a woman sitting at the bar wearing a red dress with head of soft brown curls, but even with her breathtaking appearance, she is deeply troubled and despaired with the melancholic way she sirs her drink with a small straw. "Forgive me for saying this about one of the greatest SHIELD leaders ever, but she looks sad... like she's waiting something she knows will never come. What is she waiting for?"

"The right partner."

Steve's tone is barely above a frightened whisper as he wonders if he's still the right partner for Peggy, he wonders if he's finally ready for their dance as both Scott and Jessica ponder the impactions of Steve's words. Scott thinks of Cassie, the main thought that got him day-to-day life in prison was Cassie and all the activities they would do once he got, going out to movies and ice cream, helping her with homework and school projects, and eventually teaching her to dance by allowing her to stand on his feet as they sway around the living room.

Jessica's thoughts are immediately cast back to Carol for some reason she can't explain, but it still makes her cheeks blush and think about that proposal she blurted out at Carol before leaving, which opens the floodgates to a sea of worries Jessica can't handle right now. She was obviously caught up in the majesty of Captain Marvel when she spoke so maybe she can laugh this off as a joke, but what if Carol doesn't? What if she believes the proposal was real? What if she knows the proposal was a joke and still wants marry her anyway. That wouldn't be the worst or the craziest thing Jessica has done, even if the thought is causing her head to spin as she grabs the boys by their arms and leads them to a booth far from Peggy while Steve keeps eyeing the door.

Steve's expression grows puzzled when Jessica casually calls the waiter over and orders a round of drinks for the group while the ever-present thought of the mission threatens to end their good time, if Steve doesn't do it first. "Um, we should head back to the jet since we have what we came for. There are still people counting on us back home."

"We will, just after I have a few rounds to calm myself, besides, I already paged Carol that we would back in time to save the world. Now, the only question left to ask, what you guys going to do once we actually manage to kill Thanos and everything goes back to normal? I'm want to take a nap and learn if Carol lives up the legend of Captain Marvel." Jessica doesn't try to hide her smile as she talks about Carol before she turns towards Scott. "What about you?"

Scott shrugs, taking a sip of his drink. "Hug Cassie, and pretty much everyone I know, then I'll do what you said and sleep."

After Scott gives his answer, both he and Jessica look at Steve in the expectation that he'll answer as well, but he doesn't have one, at least not an easy one. He's spent the last 18 months on the run with Natasha and Sam, living day by day with no other goal than trying to make the world a better a place and survive while doing so, but knowing Peggy is within reach complicates things. Now it's possible to have a good life with her, if there wasn't always the mission. "I don't know, I guess, go back to the Avengers facility to train myself and others to be ready for the next threat or emergency. Whatever it takes."

"This is going to sound hypocritical coming from a super-spy with a tendency towards dangerous and self-destructive behavior, but that's no way to live." Jessica frowns at the answer and reaches across the table for Steve's hand. "There's nothing wrong with doing what it takes to prepare for the next crisis, that's what good heroes should do so more lives can be saved. Alternatively, you could take this opportunity after Thanos' defeat to bow out gracefully while there's still a chance for you to have a peaceful life with Peggy here and now. At least tell me you'll consider it while you get up to have the first last dance with the one person you want to dance with for the rest of your life"

Steve sighs heavily, giving Jessica a look telling her that he is greatly considering her words, but he still has reservations when looking how perfect Peggy is. "I wouldn't even know what to say to her."

"Yes, you do." Scott interjects. "People like us haven't spent as much time away from our loved ones as we have without thinking on what we could've done differently or what we could've said if had another chance. Something tells me you've had the right words in you since before going under the ice."

"I do." Steve admits with a hearty chuckle before downing the rest of his beer that does nothing to build his courage as he begins walking over to Peggy's barstool, feeling the weight of what he's about to do with every step closer until he stands right in front of her back with nothing more to do than say her name.

"Peggy..." He watches with baited breath as the hairs on the back of Peggy's neck stand up once she hears her name being called by someone she thought she wouldn't hear ever again, but she could never forget. "Are you ready for our dance?"

* * *

**Jess: We have the Tesseract. Be heading back to you soon, save some hits on that purple douche for me. XO.**

Carol smiles lovingly at the message she received on her pager before she holsters it to her belt and leaves the Avengers' training room to explore the rest of the facility on her way to find Tony. To see that Nick finally achieved his dream of bringing together a group of remarkable people to fight the battles he never could is nothing more than extraordinary in Carol's eyes, she just wishes everyone was in better sprits.

She glance at what everyone is doing while she walks, Thor and Rocket have occupied her spot in the training room with his axe and guns respectively, Nebula's attention is completely transfixed on examining the strange food of earth, Rhodey and Bruce are continuing to catalog the Snap's victims interspersed with upgrading their suits of armor. That's where she expects Tony to be as well, but she finds him in his room watching over Pepper while he drinks some smoothie to help with headaches that come with staring at Captain America's Shield for the last hour and wishing he gave it back to Steve sooner.

"Tony?" She asks, taking him by surprise and pulling his attention from the Shield. " Jessica just paged me, the team has the Tesseract. We should prepare for the fight ahead."

"Right." Tony takes another sip from his drink and kisses Pepper's sleepy form on the forehead as he walks out of room, stopping at the door when something still troubles him. "Hold on, I gotta grab something." After taking the Shield out its mantle, Tony joins Carol in the main room as she gathers the rest of the team. "Any word from Nat and Clint?"

She nods, pointing to the helipad outside as a jet lands outside and Natasha and Clint disembark, followed by a disheartened teenage girl, drawing Tony's attention on her as he runs to greet them. "It's good to see you two again, very good since need all the help we can get. Which brings me to the girl, who are you?"

"Kate Bishop." The girl says while stepping forward to shake his hand when he extends it. "I have the same archery skillset as Clint, and I'm here to help defeat whoever did this and get my family back. Especially if it means fighting alongside my heroes, I've dreamed about this day for a long time."

"Well, you may get a chance, welcome to the Avengers." Tony gives her one last smile as he lets go of her hand, then turns to Clint with a sad, sympathetic expression. "Nat told about your family during your flight over. We may have had our animosity in the Civil War, but you have my word, we will bring them back. Whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes." Clint says with a nod of agreement while shaking Tony's hand. "Nat also told me Steve is in1945 grabbing one of the Stones before Thanos can, what should we do until he gets back?"

As soon as the Avengers were brought back together, no sooner are they could back to action when the whole compound begins to shake with the cause of the distant rumble coming from outside. Tony is first to go and check what's happening and his eyes widen in shock and fear once he sees the same donut-like space ship reappear over the greater Manhattan area. He has to fight the urge not to be sick as he walks back inside to address the rest of the group. "Thanos must've realized one of the Stone is missing, because he's here to collect it again. Steve said it best, this is the fight of our lives and it looks like we only have twenty minutes to prepare for it."

The heroes break off to grab their gear, Carol included, but Tony stops her with question before she put on the top half of her Starforce uniform over her tank top. "Carol, do you think you can page Jessica and her team? We need them here with the cube ASAP."

"And if they don't respond in time?" She asks, ready typing out a message.

"Then heaven help us."

Many burroughs away in Hells Kitchen, newlywed Jessica Jones slowly wakes in her husband's apartment with a massive hangover pounding in her head. She rolls onto her back, expecting Matt Murdock to be laying beside her when she reaches out for him, but her heart sinks in her chest when she remembers that he isn't there, just as he hasn't been for the last few days since he, Trish, Danny, and Luke disappeared into dust without a trace and left her alone to drink her sorrows away. So she reaches for the bottle of bourbon on her nightstand instead.

She and Matt got married for a number of reasons, their team dynamic between the two of them and the rest of the Defenders is damn near perfect already so why not solidify that bond with marriage vows, they're great in bed in Jessica's words, and like any good relationship, they help each other see the good in themselves and the world, but without Matt, she is left having a breakfast of booze and depression.

After the harsh sunlight hits her eyes and forces to get out of bed, Jessica stumbles to the kitchen in nothing more than her underwear and one of Matt's dress shirts. Luckily, she has enough sense to know where the coffee is and how to start it before she goes over to the table to begin looking the information she's received from countless clients wanting her to investigate the disappearance of their loved ones.

This task is all kinds of morbid to Jessica so she turns on the Tv and finds a talk show discussing the latest celebrity gossip, it's the farthest thing she would've wanted to watch, but maybe it will be a welcome distraction after the last few days. She isn't even past the first page of information over a disappearing dog before the show on the Tv is interrupted by an urgent news report.

Jessica's eyes widen and she stands up to fight when she reads the headline: **Aliens have returned to New York** , while the news reporter elaborates in a clearly frightened manner. "Sorry to interrupt your program, folks. I don't mean to scare any of you, but it appears the same donut-like spaceship has reappeared in central Manhattan days after half of the world's population vanished without a clear cause. The Avengers have responded to the possible threat, and I have been given this request by the governments of the world to ask any heroes in the New York area to join the fight as well. Please, we need you."

Jessica almost trips over herself in excitement as she returns to her bedroom once the report finishes and if someone asked why she's so ready to fight, she would tell them that fighting alongside the Avengers isn't her thing, but she has been dying to hit something to work out her anger and save the world in the process, only the world will have to wait until she can put on some pants

* * *

"Peggy... are you ready for our dance?"

The words are unmistakable to Peggy and so is the man saying them. Tears instantly stream down her face as she spins her chair around to finally see Steve giving a boyish smile full of charm that only he is capable of giving while holding his hand out to lead her the dance floor. She hops off the seat to slap him across the face, but Steve holds her hand there to feel her warmth as she pounds on his chest with her other fist. "You're late! Why didn't you tell me where you were? Where were you?"

"That is difficult to explain in a short time, but I'm here now and sorry that I'm late. Especially, since this is long overdue." With consent by the hungry look in Peggy's eyes, Steve slowly leans in to capture her soft, red lips in his as the whole club fades away and they are left with a moment of pure joy shared between them. Both of them have smiles proudly plastered on their faces once they separate for air after a long deserved kiss, then Steve holds Peggy closely in his arms so she can know he is really here with the beat of his heart and the way his breathing is steady while he speaks softly like they are the only people in the world. "I'm still hoping you can show me how to dance."

"I would love nothing more."

Jessica can't help but smile over the hour she watches Steve finally have his dance and she is reminded of how she also wants to dance with Carol when she returns home. She can't it when her mind wanders back Carol so easily, but it hard to know why, the new blonde woman practically owns her every thought that isn't focused on the mission. God only knows what will happen once Thanos is dealt with and they have a chance to explore their budding romance further, and Jessica can barely wait for that.

As the couple continues dancing, Jessica sighs with the knowledge that her team must get back to the others now that they have the Tesseract, but she can't pull Steve away from his temporary peace while it's becoming more permanent with every passing moment. Her mind to be made up in haste once she receives Carol's SOS page with her coordinates in present day Manhattan as she talks to Scott, remembering that all three of them all know the mission always comes first. "I just received an SOS from the team so I'm going to pay, then I would like us to head for the jet."

"I'll tell Steve." Scott stands from the booth, sharing Jessica's reservations about pulling Steve away from his happiness, but knowing the remaining Avengers must be unified if they hope to stand a chance against Thanos. "Steve... We got an SOS from the others. It's time for us to go."

Steve's bright smile falters into an expression of frightened shock before it transforms again and assumes the tone of a soldier once again. "Scott, do you still have that extra Quantum watch?" Scott nods, handing it over from his pocket, and Steve fixes it to Peggy's wrist with a gentle kiss to her lips. "I don't suppose you want to travel with me to the future and save the universe?" 

While Peggy fails to understand what he means without a further explanation, she nevertheless produces a small handgun from the thigh hostler hidden beneath her dress, surprising Jessica as a proud smile quickly forms on Steve's face when he discovers how game she is to save the world. "Absolutely." The Jet is parked a short walk from the club so Steve is able fill Peggy in on the crisis at hand, causing her to develop a look of vague understanding as the group boards the jet. "Understood. Aim for the purple man's head with everything I have. Anything else you guys want me to know?"

"Don't think so. Everyone, find a seat and get buckled in, we leave in two minutes." Jessica is all business once she enters the jet and prepares her to fly while the others do as she requested, but Scott's mind is clearly on something else as he stares blankly out the windshield. "That means you too, Scott. I really dont want to bounce my copilot around while we fly."

Scott nods, coming back to reality and buckling himself in before he downsizes the jet, then he presses the center of his Quantum watch with the others following his lead to create a portal of bright energy at the same point they entered the time period. He is careful not distract Jessica while she flies the jet through the portal home, but he has to ask something when the mysterious spacecraft still persists in his mind. "As long as you're making requests, I would like to make one, too. Jessica, I know what I  saw in the timestream, it was like this way advanced spaceship for the 1960's era it is stuck in. I also know we're on a clock, but can we at least search the craft for survivors once we get there?"

Jessica looks at the time dial quickly gaining years now that they going downstream in the river of time and she knows if they decide to check the craft for survivors, they will have one chance to do so, but she has to try. "We'll only have one shot at a rescue, but I'll get you there."

Peggy examines the passing timestream with wide eyes of wonder, seeing historical events of each new and unfamiliar decade move by her in quick, interesting flashes. Steve glances over to her and matches her wonder as he slowly takes her hand as comfort to the both of them. "You haven't seen anything yet. There's so much more I can't wait to show you."

"I'd go anywhere with you, Rogers."

Like before, a proximity alarm sounds when the jet arrives at the 1960's in the timestream and Jessica pulls ahead of the other craft after Scott points it out, but the river is slowly inching the jet forward while Jessica tries everything to stay where they are as Scott stands from his chair and hooks some bungee rope to his his belt on the way to opening the exit ramp, then he calls Steve over to hold the other end of the rope before he allows his helmet to form around him. "Keep me steady."

Scott fearlessly launches himself at the craft, soon coming to the conclusion that he should've thought this through when he hears his bones crunch as he tumbles along its surface until he is able to reach and grabs some exposed wires to stabilize himself at the last moment. 

"Bad Idea, bad idea." Scott repeats the words as he climbs up to the craft's window and discovers it's more like a lifeboat to protect its five passengers against the dangers of the timestream, but that wasn't enough for a blonde-haired woman kept in stasis on the inside as she has clear blue forcefield around herself, an older and a younger man, a baby, and a big orange humanoid rock creature who intrigues Scott while he knocks on the window to get the woman's attention. "Hi, I'm Scott. Can anyone hear me? Is anyone still alive?"

The woman jolts awake in surprise, causing her forcefield to slightly wane before it reinforces when she regains focus. She listens to Scott repeat his question, then checks the weak pluses of her family members and gives a curt nod while asking a question of her own. "My family and I are weak right now, but we're alive. Are you here to rescue us?"

"Yes, friends and I. Steve, everyone's okay, pull us in." As soon as Scott says the words over comms, he and lifeboat are pulled back as Jessica roars the jet forward when she spots the portal leading back to the present day, leading Steve to grab and force the small lifeboat to slow its motion upon entering the larger jet.

Maybe it's because she's done this before or maybe it's just dumb luck, but Jessica effortlessly keeps her cool under pressure as she pilots the jet through the Quantum Realm and out the van portal in which they first flew into before pulling the aircraft equivalent of a hard U-turn in a move that would make both Nick and Carol proud if they were by her side.

As the team see plumes of smoke in the distance and knowing they have no time left to waste, Steve takes the Tesseract from Scott and uses its power to create a portal to the epicenter of the Avengers' battle against Thanos in Manhattan, and Jessica wears a victorious smirk on her face seconds before she crashes the jet into to The Mad Titan for good measure. "Open wide, you son of a bitch!"

The shockwave of the crash is felt for blocks in all directions, and Carol is first to check if there are survivors while her fellow heroes get their bearings now that Thanos is temporarily incapacitated. She runs past the five occupants safely tucked in their lifeboat, past Steve shieding Scott and a brown-haired woman with his own body, past everything that's in her way of Jessica. Carol removes rubble off her chest upon reaching her collapsed on the floor near the nose of the ship, feeling her throat dry up when she sees the red dress hugging Jessica's body for the first time as she places a soft hand on her cheek to ease her transition into consciousness.

"Y'know you're supposed to kiss the sleeping beauty awake." Jessica has a daring smirk aimed at Carol as she comes to and speaks in whisper, but loud enough for them to hear. Her smirk grows when she sees how helplessly memorized Carol is by her dress, proving that it was money well spent. "So, you like my dress? I'm hoping you would."

Carol matches the smirk and quip with one of her own. "I'd much rather see you out of it when this is over."

"What?" Jessica asks, her brain short-circuiting over what she just heard as she fights her cheeks from showing her blush.

"What? I didn't say anything." Carol brushes off the question entirely before the whole streets begins creaking and shaking as Steve wakes because of it. The two captains and Jessica all share a look of urgency with Carol giving Thanos a photon blast to keep him down longer as she speaks up. "We should move, it won't be long until he rears his ugly, purple head again."

Jessica leaves the crash first, grabbing the Tesseract container as she sprints to meet with the other Avengers while Steve the carries a dazed Peggy and Scott over his shoulders and Carol follows his lead with the lifeboat of passengers closely behind. The whole team regroups from there and Peggy can't help but notice Tony when his Iron Man helmet fades into an upgraded version of his Nano-Tech Armor.

"Howard?" She asks in disbelief of Tony standing before her as she comes close and gently touches the gray in his hair. "I can't believe it, you're still alive after all this time! Albeit, a few years older than when we last saw one another."

Tony melts to her gentle touch and all of his childhood memories of his favorite aunt momentarily come flooding back. "My name isn't Howard, Aunt Peggy. I'm his future son, Anthony Stark, I never liked that name growing up so you suggested I shorten it to Tony, which I'm partial to. And speaking of correcting things, it's time I gave this back to you, Steve."

With a heavy sigh, Tony removes the Captain America Shield from his back and presents to Steve while it still has the battle damage from the day he dropped it at Tony's feet. Both men are silent for a moment to understand what such a gesture represents as an olive branch to rebuild their close friendship, but the growing sound of rubble shifting beneath the jet tells Tony that they need to act with haste. "The Shield is better suited to you than me. Go on and take it before I change my mind, and call it, Captain."

Both Steve and Carol step forward to speak up and take the lead, but Carol soon raises her hands in surrender and steps back when realizing it's Steve's moment to shine as he fixes the Shield to his arm for the first time in a long time. "We're gonna split into three teams. Team #1 is the heavyweights of Tony, Rhodey, Thor, Carol, and Jessica, we hit Thanos hard and fast with everything we have and don't give him breathing room. Carol, use the Tesseract to distract him with your hits and when you see an opening for the Gauntlet, you take it."

Some unknown force of love compels Jessica to plant a soft, encouraging kiss on Carol's cheek while she hands over the Tesseract as Steve continues. "Team #2 is the sharpshooters of Clint and his protege, and Rocket, you will provide cover for team #3, the wildcards of Natasha, Peggy, Nebula, Scott, and Bruce, move civilians to safety and minimize damage, that includes these people unconscious in this lifeboat. We have lost our friends and family, but with any luck and skill, today is the day we bring all of them back."

As the heroes set out to complete their tasks, Bruce Banner knows he isn't going to be much in this fight without the Hulk so he ducks into an abandoned build for safety with Scott temporally growing large to have the strength to pick up the lifeboat and place it next to Bruce for safekeeping before winking and running off to the fight.

Bruce also knows that whatever is happening between him and the Hulk can't go on,  especially during the fight for all of existence, and the constant booming and crashing around him isn't helping his stress-levels stay low. Apparently, the destruction is farer reaching than originally thought as the shockwaves cause the lifeboat's locking procedures to disengage and the stasis effects to wear off before a young man wearing a blue and white flight suit as he sits up and screams awake.

Smoke radiates off his head of messy blonde hair, but it soon simmers down the same time he does. "Wh-where am I? Where are we?" He asks, hopping out of the boat and helping the others inside. First, a slightly older woman with the same blonde hair and flight suit, and her young infant, then a man with slicked back brown hair and gray in the temples that appears to be same age as the woman, lastly, a huge seven-foot tall rock man comes out with an annoyed scowl on his face as the young blonde man talks to the older brown haired one. "Reed, this doesn't look like the New York we left. Do you know where we are?"

Amazement dawns on Bruce's face as he watches as Reed stretches his head and neck to look at the battle out the window while the rest of his body stays standing where it is. "Curiouser and curiouser, we appear to be in New York, but Johnny is right, this isn't the New York we left be-" He is cut off when Carol slams Thanos into a nearby building  before he charges back at her and the fight continues. "And it certainly didn't have whatever that is!"

"I know what it is, a bad guy. Flame on!" Johnny's entire body combusts into flames in an instant before he flies out of the window to join the fight, leaving his sister screaming at him to be cautious, but he couldn't care less. "Try and keep up, sis."

"Johnny! We don't know what we're up against this time, wait for the rest of us!"

"I'll get him, Susan." Reed says while stretching the top half of his body out the building with the lower half soon catching up.

Susan calls back to her doting and somewhat neglectful husband to tell him they need to come up with a plan, but her words fall on deaf ears, say for the rock man who comes up behind her and gently places one of his massive stone hands on her shoulder. "C'mon, Suzie. Let's go after them, you know those bozos'll be lost without us."

"You're right, Ben." Susan sighs, then uses her hands to create a large and breathable forcefield around her herself, Ben, and her son so they can fly off to the battle as well, finally noticing Bruce and his absolutely dumbfounded expression before she takes off. "Stay where it's safe, citizen. This is a job for the professionals!"

"The hell did I just see?" Bruce goes over possible theories of who this new team in his head as he speaks to the Avengers through the comms. "Guys, there are new players on the field. It's unknown if they're friends over foes, but they're gunning for Thanos."

"They aren't the only ones." Steve can't believe his eyes as he picks himself off the ground in a now tattered dress uniform and picks up his dirt covered Shield while a dark-haired woman leaps on the scene to fight Thanos it's another Tuesday despite the fact that she woefully unprepared to save the day wearing jeans and a black leather jacket as she has a cup of coffee in one hand and a clenched fist in the other. "We have a new enhancement in the field as well."

"I can vouch for her. She's one of us." Jessica Drew says as she watches her namesake counterpart in Jessica Jones join the battle by helping Thor and Ben wail on Thanos' face as Johnny and Tony shoot him with projectiles from the air before Thanos tries to bring him down with the Power Stone, but finds both of his hands restrained behind his back with Reed's stretchy body and Susan's forcefields. "And it looks like they're giving us a bloody chance. What should we do with it?"

"We use the opportunity they're providing." Steve says, slowly standing to his feet next to Jessica before speaking over comms. "Carol, you're up."

"On it." Carol soars overhead like a supersonic jet, then lands swiftly next to Susan with a smile as she shields herself from the battles debris. "No time to explain who I am, but I think we're on the same side, so I need you and your team to get me that Gauntlet there." She says, pointing to the item still wrapped around Reed's body.

Susan nods dutifully, then vanishes into thin air, leaving Carol confused to where she went as Thanos finally breaks free and gives Tony and Johnny a blast of purple power, but it distracts him long enough for Ben to tap him on the shoulder before sending him back to the dirt with an earthshaking punch. "Hey pal, it's clobberin' time!"

Ben keeps him in the dirt by standing on his neck and Reed prepares to wrap himself around Thanos' gauntlet hand again, but momently stops himself with his ear pointed at the ground, as if he's listening for something, then he gives the same dutiful nod and continues with his plan, twisting himself in such a way that he successfully breaks Thanos' arm at the shoulder before shouting at his teammate. "Susan, now!"

In an instant, Thanos grunts in immense pain for the first time in a while as he looks over at his gauntleted hand to see it incased in a small and powerful forcefield completely severed from his body and quickly floating away from him. Tony knows he shouldn't do this while Thanos is still standing, but he approaches The Mad Titan to gloat in the much the same he first did on Titan. "How's that for a drop of blood, you bastard!"

Thanos roars and launches himself past Tony, aiming for Carol once Susan goes visible again and hands the Infinity Gauntlet over to her, giving Carol a matter of seconds to smash the Tesseract into its stone form with her raw power, then she adds it to the Gauntlet with the rest of the Stones and much like Thanos before her, Carol restores hope to the universe in the same way he first took it away, with a single snap of her fingers.

She braces for Thanos to punch her, but the hit never comes. Instead, she and the heroes finally breathe in a heavy amount of relief when Thanos drops to his knees as his own disintegration begins to take place, and by the expression on his face, he can't believe it's really happening either. Thor soon brings Stormbreaker down from the sky with the expectation of finally killing Thanos, but his enemy disappears into nothingness as his axe hits the ground, leading him to aim his blinding rage at Carol when she is the closest.

"What did you do?! WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

Carol just shrugs, showing that she is just as confused as the man asking her. "I don't know, I snapped my fingers wishing the universe would reset to a time before the Snap, just without Thanos in it. And, I wouldn't have been able to do it without you Avengers and these four people helping me." She gestures to the four unknown explores walking to meet with the Avengers after the baby has been returned to Susan's arms. "Who are you folks?"

Johnny takes that perfectly normal question as a personal challenge to give an over the top answer by lightning himself up and taking off towards the sky to create a fire trail that forms into circle with the number 4 on the inside before he returns to the ground in one fluid, continuous motion, a smile of youthful exuberance finding its way onto his face as he introduces himself and his family with each member waving as he gets to them.

"I'm Johnny Storm. This is my older sister Susan, and her square of a husband Dr. Reed Richards, along with their little tater-tot, Franklin. Last and certainly least, this is everyone's crazy, drunk uncle Ben Grimm." He says with a mischievous grin, grasping Ben's rocky shoulder. "Together, we're family, we are the Fantastic Four!"

"Johnnnyyy!"

Ben's gruff cadence rings out among the street before he begins chasing the young man in comical Tom and Jerry-like routine that sends Johnny directly into Steve's arms, leaving the boy star struck with wide eyes while Steve tries to stabilize him. "You're him, Captain America."

"I am, my name is Steve, though." Steve raises a questioning eyebrow at Johnny once he finds his footing. "Do I know you? I feel like I should know you."

"No. But I know you, you're The Star-Spangled Man With a Plan. Man, I can't believe this is really happening, my sister and I first saw your war bonds show when I was two and I feel like this meeting has been eighteen years in the making! Isn't that right, Sue?"

Susan nods at her brother, sharing his enthusiasm towards Steve, and Steve's cheeks turn a dark red out of embarrassment, then he looks crestfallen towards the new travelers. "You say you saw my show twenty years ago. That would place your home somewhere in the mid 1960's, but that passed over fifty years ago, we're in the 21st century now."

Only Susan and Johnny feel the full weight and pain such a transition would entail, quickly going through the stages of grief over their lost friends, but Reed and Ben are different, altogether. Instead, Reed only sees the possibilities of this new era and none of its dangers as he asks his first question with great enthusiasm. "Did humanity ever walk on the Moon?"

Steve nods, unable to handle his energy right now before Reed turns to his wife. "Susan, we have to stay here now, think of the scientific adventures we could go on."

"While I don't share the egghead's perspective, I think we should stay here." Ben says, placing a hand on Reed's shoulder in solidarity. "The advancements in science might be the best chance we have to fix me, which is why Reed built the blasted time portal that caused us to get stuck in the first place."

Susan nods with heavy sigh, knowing that staying here is the best course of action for her family, leaving Johnny to agree with a playful slap on Ben's shoulder. "If this place will help you, big guy, then I'm game for anything. Besides, this'll be fun."

"Are you sure? I can probably open a portal to your time period with this." Carol says, presenting the Infinity Gauntlet on her hand, which peaks Steve's thoughts. "The laws of the universe have already been broken twice, so I bet one more time wouldn't hurt."

After the words leave Carol's mouth, Steve is reminded of Jessica's words back in the club and he wonders if he has the right bow out now that the world has been set back to normal, then Peggy takes his hand down at his side and he looks into her eyes to see a future with her that is more than possibility, it's a certainty if he just say the word. "Carol... can you please send Peggy and I back to New York in September of 1945? I want to spend the remainder of my days with her."

The announcement is met with shock from all of his teammates, except for Jessica, who gives an approving smile in the background. Finally, Carol steps forward to break the minute long silence between the group. "I'll give you time to say goodbye, then say the word."

Steve gives his team a look that tells them it is hard for him to say goodbye as it is for them to hear it, but he must do it regardless. "Severing alongside each and everyone of you has been one of the greatest honors and adventures of my very long life, but a new friend recently told me to bow out of this life gracefully when the world's calm. That's what I plan to do with Peggy now, and I trust this friend to choose a successor to take a up the Shield in my place."

Jessica steps forward to take the Shield when Steve carefully hands it to her off his back as he continues speaking to her privately. "Bucky Barnes or Sam Wilson, whoever you choose, I know they're both more than worthy of it. And maybe you could one more thing for me since you and Bucky come from the same background, keep a very close eye on him, be by his side 'til the end of the line. Promise me that."

"I promise, 'til the end of the line." Jessica manages to stay strong as she straps the Shield to her back and watches Steve say goodbye to the Avengers while everyone takes a swig of some Asgardian whiskey from a flask Thor hid in his boot, then Steve reaffirms his gentle grip of Peggy's hand while nodding at Carol to open a portal using the Space and Time Stones, allowing Jessica to give Steve one final send off with a salute before he steps through and begins a new life. "Captain Rogers, on behalf of Nick Fury and everyone else who isn't here to give their gratitude, thank you for your service." 

Every Avenger takes a moment of now that Steve is at peace where he belongs with Tony feeling the silence on the street most of all, which is quite strange when considering what Carol just did to half of the universe. "Speaking of people who aren't here, shouldn't everyone who was snapped out of existence be back by now? Should she snap again?"

Tony's question is finally answered when Peter Parker reappears right next to him and Jessica, and Tony nearly takes her and the boy to the ground when he reaches out to hug him, shocking Peter who never expected Tony to react this way unless the situation is dire like it was on Titan. Tony's tone is one of shaky happiness as he speaks to Peter from within the embrace. "Oh, thank God you're back here alive and well. Now there's less I have to explain to May."

Peter isn't the only person who reappears, because Stephen Strange and Wanda Maximoff do as well, then come Laura Barton and the kids and they are instantly met by a group hug from Clint and Kate, Scott is pretty much ecstatic once Hank, Janet, and Hope reappear in his life, followed by Bucky, T'challa, Shuri, and Sam, and Rocket and Nebula try not to show much emotions on their faces when they are quickly hugged by their fellow Guardians, even Loki and Gamora have a chance to return to their loved ones as the universe slowly nits itself back together.

Not to be outdone by another superteam, even the newly reassembled Defenders stay to help with clean-up, with Matt, Danny, and, Luke helping clear debris as Jessica Jones goes over shake Tony's hand because he is only one of two other superheroes that she recognizes. "I hope you didn't mind me stepping in back there, you guys looked like needed the help, but what I did wasn't legal with the Accords and I'd appreciate it if my actions are kept under wraps."

"Of course, I'll send a pardon for you and your whole team." Tony says, shaking Jessica Jones's hand and watching her walk away once their business is concluded. "If your people are up for it, maybe our teams can work together again."

Jessica lets out a ruckus laugh over her shoulder. "You wouldn't want us, Stark. Besides, I've got my own band of crazies to deal with."

Soon, the whole street is a sea of joyous celebration in a scene that likely mirrors what's occurring the universe over as family member reconnects with family member and friend reconnects with friend, and Carol plans to join the celebration as well, just as soon as she flies above the crowd to gain a better vantage point to search for Nick. Jessica quickly follows Carol from the ground when she decides to fly off towards the west, but Jessica hangs in the background out of Carol's view and watch as Carol launches herself to hug a recently reconstructed Nick Fury before he even knows what's happening.

"Hey, Fury. Long time no see and believe me, you've never looked so good." She says, enthusiastically lifting him off his feet in a nearly bone crushing hug with her superior strength.

"Carol? You're really back here after 22 years, aren't you?" Nick manages to pry Carol off of him long enough for her give a smile that shows Nick she's really here before she goes back to hugging him and he actually returns the hug while confusion still clouds his mind. "What happened?"

"We won."

With the knowledge there will be a further explanation later on, Nick just sinks deeper into his old friend's welcome embrace as he peers over Carol's shoulder to notice Jessica out of the corner of his eye, giving her a much deserved thumbs up as the first token of his appreciation over how she handed this crisis, and Jessica can't help but return the gesture, because Carol is right. They've won and everything is as it should be.

* * *

"I'm not sure I can do this." Carol says, looking uneasy and claustrophobic in the mirror as she wears a dark blue off the shoulder dress with a puffy skirt and subtle sparkles throughout its surface, her horror at the dress grows the more she looks at it, so she turns towards Jessica relaxing on her bed in the Avengers Facility as she wears a repaired version of the red dress that makes Carol's heart flutter so much. "Yep, I definitely can't do this party, especially, dressed like I belong with the Smurfs."

Jessica scoffs and rolls off the bed, getting close enough to Carol so they're basically sharing air as she straightens out the more wild aspects of Carol's dress. "Says the badass woman who snapped Thanos out of existence two weeks ago, and who also looks absolutely stunning, by the way. If it helps, not all the attention will be on you tonight since we're celebrating Tony and Pepper's engagement, but you can always lean on me if things become too hectic."

"You're right, at least I'll have one friend at this party." Carol says, gently taking Jessica's soft hands in her own.

At this point, Jessica realizes how close she is to Carol and steps back, but not far enough to give Carol the wrong idea as she clears her throat to rid herself of the awkwardness she feels. "Oh, are we already friends? I hadn't realized, I'm sort of rubbish at making friends."

"Don't worry, Jess, you have me convinced." Carol lets out a flirty laugh as she leans over to whisper in Jessica's ear. "We're friends, and I'm hoping we can more someday."

A furious blush spreads across Jessica's cheeks and her mind is set ablaze trying to work out what Carol means, though, one of the many good things Jessica has discovered about their relationship in last few weeks is she able to match Carol wit for wit with her response. "Ms. Danvers, you're trying to seduce me." Carol nods unashamed, and the blush can now be found on her face when Jessica whispers into her ear in the same way. "Come find me at the end of the night after I become properly drunk and I'll tell you if it's working."

Much like all of her victims, Jessica leaves Carol speechless and wanting more with a kiss as she steps away and offers Carol a chance to interlock their arms. "For now, we have a party to attend. Shall we go?"

Carol smiles interlocking her arm with Jessica's before they walk out of the bedroom and into a sea of new and old heroes, allowing Jessica to overhear conversations between guests as she walks past, such as the case of the conversation between Thor and Ben Grimm. "Are you sure you're not a Kronan, my new orange friend? Do you know Korg?"

"What's a Korg?"

While it's easy for Jessica to slip into the party atmosphere due to her spy training, it isn't so easy for Carol and it isn't hard to see why. She's another soldier out of time and even though her time away was voluntary, she will have a difficult time readjusting to the world. Maybe Jessica can begin to help her the only way she knows how. She gives Carol's hand a light squeeze before letting go while her eyes are aimed at the open bar. "I'll get us drinks, you go mingle with the others. Maybe tell them of how you and Nick met in the 90's."

Jessica gives Carol an encouraging smile as she walks away backwards straight into the bar to order two beers for herself and her date, but she soon orders a third once spots Nick leaning on the outside balcony overlooking the greater New York area in the distance with a gift bag in his hand and she decides to meet with him, temporarily adopting the exaggerated accent of an American southern belle as she crosses the balcony's threshold. "As I live and breathe, is Nick Fury finally at a party? I never thought I'd see the day!"

Nick cracks a slight smile at that remark as Jessica joins him and hands over the drink and he wraps an arm around her and kisses her forehead. "Don't get used to it, kid. I just came by to offer my congratulations to the happy couple, and there's things I want to discuss with you. First, all the Avengers said Captain Rogers was killed during the final fight with Thanos, but no incident report was filed and you were seen with his Shield, which makes me believe something else happened. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"All I know is, I hate paperwork and Steve was over the Moon when we parted ways, I don't what else to tell you, Nick." Jessica deflects the question by taking a sip of her drink, but she can see Nick giving her some knowing side-eye until she changes the subject. "What are the other things we were to discuss?"

In response, Nick turns around and Jessica follows, continuing to lean against the railing, then he gestures to Carol talking with Peter Parker through the window. Carol and Peter wave at them and they wave back as Nick speaks. "You and Carol already seem pretty close so I want you to keep me in the loop with how she is adjusting to 21st Century life here on Earth when I go back into hiding. You know, show her everything she missed out on, become best friends, but keep your relationship professional, Agent Drew."

"Always, sir. That won't be too hard." Damn, this mission is going to be harder than Jessica thought, because Carol is Carol and she is gorgeous, but whatever conflict Jessica feels inside, she doesn't let it be shown on her face. "As long as we're on Carol, there's something I have to know. In all the times you told me of her growing up, you always described your first impression of her as 'knowing a rouge soldier when you saw her'.  Did you see that same quality in me when we met? Is that why you adopted me?"

The air around the pair is silent for a moment because Nick knew Jessica would eventually ask this question and he spent years preparing for it, but it's still not an easy answer. "Truthfully, you impressed me, not many people have done that, certainly not a seven year old, I only saw you as a frightened girl who needed love when you haven't known any, that's why I adopted you. From there, I always hoped you would have the life that you do now, but I only lightly pushed you in this direction with my ultimatum because you deserve the best opportunities in life and bury your past, Jess. Which is why I bought you this."

He presents with the gift bag to Jessica and subtle surprise dawns on her face as she rips into it. "Wow Nick, my birthday isn't until December, you didn't need to me buy a gift for saving the wor-" She trails off once she realizes what's inside, her hands tremble and her pulse quickens before she pulls out Bucky Barnes's HYDRA codebook as well as her own. "Wh-where did you get these?"

Nick keeps his voice calm in effort to keep Jessica calm while he removes a small bottle of kerosene from the bag and explains. "You probably don't remember that Agent Coulson was with me when I first took you home. I gave him a mission to find and burn every piece of HYDRA intel in reference to you because I wanted you to have a life. So when Zemo was arrested and Barnes's codebook was taken off him, I wondered if you had one of those too, and I put Coulson to task to find it in-between his own missions. I know this will not make up for everything HYDRA did to you, but it's up to you what you want to do with them, I'm hoping the kerosene is a hint."

"I want to burn them, not without help, though. Thank you, Pops" Jessica looks at Bucky through the window as he stares at the Captain America Shield in deep contemplation, just as he has been doing for the entire night and she what will get him out of his funk. So she gathers up the items and hugs Nick tightly before going back inside. Despite Jessica quickly approaching, Bucky doesn't look away from the shield until she grabs his attention by sitting down on the couch next to him. "Who's winning, you or the Shield?"

Bucky lets out a soft laugh and finally relaxes on the couch, his eyes never leaving the Shield. "I'm not sure if it's really a contest, I'm just trying to figure out for the life of me why you decided I was a good choice for the Cap mantle. Steve was truly the best of us, even before he had the super soldier procedure, he always placed others before himself, his faith in the goodness of people and the world was boundless. In the end, Steve was more than a Shield and I'm not sure if carry it as he did, so I'll ask again, why did you choose me?"

Jessica patiently stares at Bucky until he looks away from the Shield and at the understanding and compassionate expression on Jessica's face as she speaks. "Years ago, you asked me to remember that we aren't HYDRA's worthless mistakes in case we forgot one day, we're survivors of our trauma and pain instead, and I think Steve saw that in us. He saw our pasts and who we were, who we are now, and who we could become in the future, maybe that's he asked me to choose his successor and why I chose you. You're my HYDRA Buddy for life and I'm with you 'til the end of the line. So I'm hoping you help me with something."

She watches with bated breath as Bucky pulls out the two codebooks out of the giftbag once she hands it over and his face transforms into the same frightened expression Jessica has while asking the same question as her. "I never thought I see that damned book again and I had no idea you had one, I'm sorry HYDRA used you like that. Where did you get them?"

"That isn't important, what is important is that we have the books and we can decide how to get rid of them. I say we burn them, what you do say?" She asks, presenting him with the lighter fluid. "Either we do this do together or not at all, but I won't do this without you because it's a way for us to finally get closure."

"This won't change the horrible things we did, Jess. It just won't."

Jessica clenches her fist and briefly shuts her eyes while taking a deep breath to ward off any dangerous and painful memories that threaten to claw their back to forefront from the recesses of her mind. "I know... God, I know, but our pasts deserve their places on the ash heap along with HYDRA and we need to be the ones to burn and bury them to make sure they stay there. Please, Bucky."

Bucky nods slowly as the idea becomes favorable as he stands and straps the Shield to his arm, holding the giftbag in his other hand before drawing the other heroes to follow him and Jessica to the front lawn outside, where they place giftbag with the books inside in the grass and take turns dowsing it in kerosene until they squeeze out every last drop, then Jessica whistles to get Johnny's attention as he flies overhead. "Oi! Flame boy, can you give us a light?"

Exclamations of excitement can be heard once Johnny sends down a fireball that sets the bag ablaze in a massive spectacle as Bucky takes Jessica's hand in his as they silently stand together on the lawn beginning to watch their pasts burn for good of everyone, but mostly for themselves. Most heroes go back inside a few moments later and the rest follow soon after, not Jessica and Bucky. No, they need to watch the fire burn down its last ember, they need to know their pain is finally over.

Nearly everyone has gone home or retired to their room by the time Jessica and Bucky walk back inside the Avengers compound at a quarter past 1 A.M, say for Carol and Peter, and Jessica says goodbye to Bucky before going over to greet them, the now warm beers still in her hand. "I'm so sorry, I completely lost track of time. Hopefully, I didn't keep you waiting."

"Not at all, Jessica." Carol smiles and stands to grab Jessica's hand before gesturing at Peter to introduce him. "I was just telling about my adventures as Captain Marvel and he was telling me about his adventures as Spider-Man, and how he sometimes gets too tired to web swing home so he called his aunt for a ride tonight."

"She's probably here by now, so I'm gonna head out. Goodnight, Carol, I'll be up for Avengers training bright and early tomorrow." Peter stands as well and shakes Carol's other hand before walking to the driveway. "I hope we meet again someday, Jessica."

But Jessica doesn't hear him, it's not because she doesn't care to hear Peter's goodbye. Instead, her entire focus is on Carol and both women have hungry eyes as Carol leads them to an empty dance floor. Jessica gets in close and lays her head on Carol's shoulder as they start to slow dance to music playing on loud speaker. Eventually, the music fades completely and Jessica loses track of everything except Carol and her steady heartbeat and she remembers what she and Steve said in that club about not wanting to dance with anyone else once the right partner has been found, and she knows that she is having her first last dance with Carol. She just prays Carol feels the same way about her.

"Yes. My answer is yes." Jessica is brought back to reality when Carol suddenly speaks up, causing Jessica to lift her head and raise an eyebrow of confusion as Carol explains. "To answer your marriage proposal from earlier, my answer is yes." She sees Jessica's eyes widen before she tries walk it back, but Carol covers her mouth with her hand, smiling cheekily when Jessica licks her palm. "I know it was a joke said in moment, but there's something hat has me hooked completely on you, something I want us to explore in time, and if or when you ask me to marry you again, I will be helpless to say nothing except yes. All that's left is to ask, what are we going to do now?"

Carol removes her hand and whispers the last question close Jessica's lips, daring Jessica to kiss her and she is seconds from giving in. Fuck professionalism and fuck Nick's warning, she wants to, for lack of better words in Jessica's eyes, fuck Carol instead. Jessica's lips are furiously attacking Carol's soft ones before either woman can react, but neither of them dare stop as Carol takes charge by gently shoving Jessica into the wall closest to her room and Jessica gasps in pleasure before sucking on Carol's neck to leave her mark.

Their lips don't separate, but moans are heard as Jessica wraps her legs around Carol's waist when she picks her up and they joyfully stumble to her room, allowing both woman to remove their clothes quickly once they hit the bed before they both spend the night totally exploring each other's bodies, souls, and minds with the most dedicate of care while Jessica temporally forgets everything she had done in the past as she imagines a bright future with Carol.

A vivid nightmare of everything being horribly ripped away her forces Jessica to wake in a cold sweat hours later after hearing the distant clap of thunder coming from the outside window. She takes a few deep breaths to calm herself with the knowledge that a shower will help her further, but she finds her naked body closely and safely intertwined with Carol's body and she relaxes instantly while she leans over to softly kiss her cheek as she sleeps. If nights with Carol are going to be this peaceful, then Jessica can certainly get used to being an Avenger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you can all see why I had to split this chapter and the last into two, I just didn't want to rush Steve's reunion with Peggy or his farewell, along with my introduction of the Fantastic Four, that's why this chapter is so packed with content and hopefully I made it all make sense. If I was in charge of Avengers: Endgame and the future of the MCU, that's exactly how I would introduce them. Please let me know if you spotted my Human Torch and Captain in-joke, now I'm going to bed.


	5. Date Night With Destiny.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After hearing of Jessica's past, Peter encourages her to tell Carol about her pregnancy over a date, as he works up the courage to ask Michelle on a date of his very own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like before, there isn't much to say at the beginning of this chapter, except I want thank everyone who has read this story and continues to do so with each new chapter, this story has blown up in popularity beyond anything I could've hoped for and I couldn't be happier that you all enjoy it so much. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. Now onto the chapter proper, this chapter picks up where the second one left off. Please feel free to comment, and I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

"How are you pregnant? How far along are you? Why are you pregnant? Who's the father?"

Jessica raises an eyebrow at the excited tone of Peter's questions as they sit together sipping two cups of Earl Grey Tea surrounded by cardboard boxes in Jessica's new and yet to be fully-furnished flat. The questions shouldn't be as shocking as they are, Jessica expected them once she decided on this course of action two months ago, she just wasn't ready for Peter to be so forward with them and she's at a loss of words to answer for a moment.

She clears her throat with a laugh of embarrassment before her tone turns serious and sad towards her past, yet hopeful for the future. "It's true I had no intention to have children a short time ago, but like I told Nick in the hospital: I have almost died too many for it to be funny anymore with very little to show for my broken life while it's always been in service of others, HYDRA, SHIELD, never for myself. That's why I retired from field work and why I chose to become pregnant, I want die old and grey with a smile on my face and the knowledge that I had a life full of happiness and love in the end. It's all I've ever wanted, and I hope you'll respect my choice, Peter."

"I do, Jess." Peter shows his immediate full support by squeezing her hand while giving a warm and encouraging smile before he stands from the couch with the glint of a purpose in his eyes. "Who's the father? Does he know about the baby? Do I need to become a unfriendly neighborhood Spider-Man to this guy because he doesn't care about the baby?"

He takes a step towards the door, but Jessica is quickly able grab ahold of his hand to stop him where he is from her spot on the couch. "Slow your roll, kid. There is no father, at least not one I know of, my pregnancy is due to artificial insemination. The father is just a serial number I chose from off a list of candidates full of promising traits because I wanted a baby and I want whoever they become to have the best opportunities to grow, even if it's just me raising them."

Jessica is silent for a moment, debating with herself whether she should address a massive elephant in the room when she is afraid of where it may lead. "Still, I do hope Carol will be a second parent with me. I mean, she did say yes to the marriage proposal I told you about this evening, is it wrong for me to ask such a monumental commitment of someone so suddenly?"

Peter's deeply conflicted expression tells her that he doesn't have a clear answer, but he comes up when he takes Jessica's motorcycle keys from the kitchen counter, and shoulders his school backpack and walks toward her.

"Carol said to me recently during training that she gave up her command of Alpha Flight and returned to Earth to be with you, so there's hope, but you won't know unless you ask her. You can break the news and proposal over a private date, and I'll brave the back of your bike again to help you come up with what to say as we drive to Avengers Compound together, might as well get as much mileage out of that bike as you can before you balloon up. I even have snacks in my backpack in case an unprompted adventure ever happened."

Jessica can't tell if Peter's remark is serious or a joke, the thought of eventually giving up her fast-paced motorcycle is frightening, to say the least, but she finds Peter's naturally positive attitude about this turn of events to be infectious as she accepts his hand up from the couch. Just the thought of Carol and the future they could have together causes Jessica to move through her flat with the slightest bit more pep in her step, but who could truly blame her when just being close and touching Carol makes her heart catch ablaze with all the lovely thoughts of everything she wants to do with her.

In all of the fast-paced excitement, Jessica almost forgets to lock her flat until they are walking down the hall, causing Jessica to double check the door knob with her spider-strength after locking it before join Peter again, who's patiently waiting by the stairwell leading to the garage. "Sorry for the wait as I locked my place. I wouldn't want some bloke wandering in to steal my things while we're gone tonight."

Peter nods in understanding. "I get you. New York is a big and wonderful place most times, but it does have its hidden dangers if you don't look out, like that serial cat burglar you've probably heard of on the news recently." He says while the pair approach Jessica's bike and he gives over the keys. "You ready for this? We don't have to do this if you're not up to it."

Jessica doesn't respond immediately, she just mounts and starts the motorcycle with deep concern for Peter as he is clearly still shaken from the last time he rode with her, so Jessica takes a moment to reassure him. "Put your arms around me like last time and relax, I have you, and with the two of us together, what could go wrong?"

"Right... What could go wrong?"

As Jessica and Peter depart for the Avengers Compound, a mysteriously dangerous woman with voluminous snow-white hair and a form-fitting black body suit with a matching face mask runs across the rooftops using the night for cover as she looks for something thrilling to do with dishonorable talents or her next big score, more often then not, they are one in the same.

At long last, the woman grins when she comes upon her next mark in the form of Jessica's new apartment, where she lands on outside of the place's large bay window like a stealthy cat and looks inward at all the delectable valuables catching her eye, a huge flat screen Tv and Nick's Chinaware kept in an old wooden hutch being the most alluring. While info on another big, one time score across town sounds more pressing, the woman makes special note to return to Jessica's place next week as she leaps away because all of the boxes scattered boxes full of potential goodies tell her that this mark is going to be a cakewalk.

Despite the hidden, looming threat back home, Jessica and Peter ride up the driveway at the Avengers Compound with not much conversation happening between the passengers as Jessica spent 

the trip cursing out her fellow drivers for being unmotivated to move when the lights were green while Peter clung to her for dear life as he wished more than anything that this ever twisting ride from hell would soon over.

They drive into the garage, which also doubles as hanger bay for the QuinJets, and Jessica smiles when she spots Bucky Barnes and Natasha Romanoff loading a jet with supplies for a mission, seeing how Bucky has shaved his beard and cut his long brown hair into a shorter mane to complement the fact that he is now wearing Steve's old Captain America stealth suit as Jessica dismounts her bike to meet with him. "I'm liking the new look, Buck. Where are you and Nat headed all dolled up?"

Bucky smiles warmly, telling Jessica he greatly appreciates her complement, setting down his and Natasha's duffle bags to talk with her. "Thank you, Jess. We're going on a part romantic getaway, part HYDRA hunting in Eastern Europe. While SHIELD and the previous Avengers team mopped up the face of HYDRA with Baron Strucker, they didn't mop everything pertaining to you and me, wanna come along? We could use another gun, or are you and the Spider-Kid here on other business?" He asks, noting Peter's presence as he slowly and awkwardly shuffles towards them, still shaken from the ride over.

"I can't join you, I'm here ask Carol on a date in front of the entire team, and Peter's here to encourage me to do it before I fully come to my senses and chicken out." Jessica's tone is quick and precise, and Bucky can tell that she is saying the words quickly before she can come to regret them. "If you happen to come across a HYDRA Base named Wundergore or Wandagore Mountain, call me immediately. Otherwise, happy HYDRA hunting, and wish me luck asking Carol out."

"I can spare a few minutes if you would like more support."

As soon as the words leave Bucky's mouth, Jessica takes his and Peter's hands to pull them along with Spider Strength into the Avengers' training room, where Falcon, Doctor Strange, War Machine, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Kate Bishop, Shuri, and a reconstructed Vison, work in tandem to effortlessly pull off spectacular and colorful feats of teamwork as they answer drill sergeant like orders being given by a levitating Carol Danvers while she softly pets Chewie The Cat in her arms.

"O' Captain, My Captain!" Jessica's chipper tone grabs Carol's attention and causes the blonde to fly down to meet her instantly, giving Jessica a lovestruck smile that she would kiss her and more if other people weren't around. Jessica matches her smile as she attacks Carol's lips with a lovingly passionate kiss that they both have wanted since their last goodbye. "I think everyone deserves a break, don't want to work them too hard. Nor do I want the same for you, or Chewie, you're both important members of this team."

"Well, we have to make sure the team is up to snuff since Tony and Pepper are still on their year long honeymoon, Thor's in space with the Guardians, and the Fantastic Four are too cool for us in Johnny's words. But I know Chewie will come through for us in a pinch, isn't that right, buddy?" Carol asks, caressing Chewie behind the ears and causing him to purr contently in her arms.

"That's good. Chewie has been loyal. You can also count me to be an Avenger, I'm taking an extended holiday here in New York." Jessica also scratches Chewie underneath his chin, causing the alien cat to gently lick her palm before Jessica gets down to business. "Do you mind if I steal you and him away for a moment?"

"Not at all, Jess, you're always a welcome distraction." Peter and Bucky take Carol's words as a cue to split away and speak with the Avengers as Carol kisses Jessica very suddenly once they're a private distance away, but still in full view of the others. "Sorry, I couldn't have everyone thinking you're ahead of me in our kissing competition, I have a rep to protect. Now, what did you want to talk about?"

Jessica takes a final deep breath and Carol gives her hand a gentle squeeze to encourage her further. "I have a big life-changing secret to tell you, but I can't yet." Carol raises an eyebrow of intrigue as Jessica continues. "It's extremely important to me and I want to tell you privately over dinner, so I came here to ask you on a date, what do say to a week next Friday?"

Carol nods instantly with the brightest of smiles that is one of the great many things Jessica loves about her as Carol places Chewie in Jessica's arms. "Of course I'll go out with you, I'd love to, but you have to take Chewie until we meet again. He's been giving Vision some suspicious glances and I'm concerned that Chewie will sallow him whole a few months after he was reconstructed."

"No worries, I can handle him, Care Bear. Chewie and I have been best mates all my life, even if I'm still salty that he ate my grade six baking soda volcano for the science fair." Jessica and Carol share a final kiss before Jessica goes over to Peter and stores Chewie in his backpack in such a way that the cat is able to poke its head out through an unzipped section as they begin to walk outside, until Carol calls them back.

"Hold on, Peter, aren't you supposed to be on the docket for today's training? Get back here with the team." The scowl on Carol's face and the way she has her arms folded cause Bucky to run back to hanger as fast as he can before he is the next unwilling participant in her hard ass training regiment, leaving a fear filled Peter as Jessica comes to his aid.

"Actually, I've been helping Peter declutter his aunt's place in Queens over the last few weeks, and we got finished before coming here. So I'm gonna to take him home to rest, but he'll be back soon enough, as will I. Goodbye, everyone."

Much like Bucky, Jessica protectively ushers Peter out of the room and to the hanger/garage as fast as she can, a fortunate turn of events for not just Peter, but Jessica herself as she able to give her HYDRA Buddy a playful two finger salute in a way to wish Bucky luck in Europe, and he return the gesture before they set off on their separate, but no less important missions.

It's only when Jessica reaches end of the driveway and she is merging into traffic on her motorcycle, does she remember Peter and his love life exists, and leans back to ask him about it. "Oh, with everything going on about my love life, I completely forgot to ask about yours. How are things between you and Michelle? Have you spoken since telling her your secret?"

The question must've been the wrong one to ask at this time and certainly not one that should be asked at Peter while on back of a dangerous vehicle, because he tenses up in fear and falls backwards, pulling Jessica with him and nearly causing the bike to topple on top of them before she regains control in the nick of time with the two of them having to fight the urge to puke inside their helmets as she pulls over for a chance catch their breathes and for Jessica to chew Peter out. "Jesus Christ, kid! What's gotten into you? If I knew this was going to happen, I never would've asked! Are you okay?"

Peter looks like he's about to be sick, but not the sick Jessica's expecting. "I'm lovesick, Jess."

His statement couldn't be more truthful. Over the last two months, he and Michelle have passed hidden notes underneath their desks in chemistry class and flirting over late night texts before bed, both hoping for something more would happen, but neither party has taken that step out of fear of their young love, vulnerable becoming real for themselves and the people around them. Yet, like Jessica and Carol before him, Peter is hopeful of what a romantic relationship could bring.

He begins elaborating on his answer, only to come out more confused due to his young age and inexperience with romantic relationships compared to Jessica. "I mean, I did what May said, and gave Michelle and I time to process our feelings, except we're pretty much flirting nonstop over text and I don't know how to play that in person. Should I be aloof and distant? Dark and dangerous? Cool and charming? Mysteriously artistic? Or a total reckless bada-"

"Stop! Bloody hell!" Jessica sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation, then she takes a deep, calming breath before speaking. "Okay, what I'm to say may sound simple, but that's why it works. Be yourself around her, Michelle has feelings for the Peter who's bookish and dorky, yet extremely physically capable in his own right, not some try-hard edgy douche. Just be yourself and relay on your shared common interests, and you two lovebirds will be right as rain. I'd say you have the rest of the ride to figure out how to be yourself and how to ask Michelle out, because I'm taking you to her place."

Peter blinks twice in shock, he is about to protest in a very flustered way, but Jessica covers his mouth with her hand before he can. "We might as well deal with your overly dramatic crisis of love since we've dealt with mine today, and there's nothing like being thrown in the deep end from the start, as long as you have a lifeline to help you out, like me. I will be with you for the whole experience, just tell me the directions to her place whenever we're stopped at a light."

Jessica's green eyes blink in such a gentle manner that Peter is convinced to go along with her plan when he really thinks about, the only comfort the boy recives is knowing that Jessica will be by his side in the same way they will always be for each other nowadays, and Jessica furthers his comfort by allowing Peter to wrap his arms around her stomach extra tightly and rest his head on her shoulder blade once they race off with Jessica following the first of Peter's directions.

She makes sure to slow to a crawl in case Peter tells her ride away once they reach the street of Michelle's brick and mortar apartment building, but no such request comes, so Jessica turns off her motorcycle. "Come on, I'd better see you up there, so what are you waiting for? It's not like her dad will turn out to be a supervillain or something."

"Y'know, that actually happened to me once. It ruined my homecoming dance when I had to stop him from stealing Stark Tech, but reasonability and all." Peter raises an eyebrow once he picks up on the meaning of Jessica's words. "Wait, do you mean to come up with me?"

Jessica offers her hand in response to his question, and Peter speaks while leading them to the backside of Michelle's apartment building. "In that case, Michelle told me her parents are going through a divorce and I'd rather not tangle with them, so can you teach me how to wall run using our Spider-Abilities like how you described in the story about your past?"

"I'd be delighted to. Thankfully, I'm not wearing a skirt this time. It's helpful to begin wall running like wall crawling for first-timers like you, then once you gain some speed, detach your hands from wall and sprint up the surface vertically as you would on the ground. Easy Peasy." Jessica demonstrates by crawling up the wall to begin with before she stands vertically and runs up the building until she turns around, allowing Peter a chance to run the build with her, even going past her on the way to the outside of Michelle's room. "Good job, kid. You're a quick learner."

"It helps that I have you as a teacher. Now, shush, I have to focus." Peter takes a final deep breath for courage before knocking on Michelle's bedroom window, but he knocks again with a little more force when she doesn't hear him or turn around to see his face, as she has music pumping into her ears through headphones while she does homework. He tries knocking over and over, only to be given the same frustrating result, so Peter just drops all pretense and texts Michelle while still trying to come off cool.

**Pete: Hey MJ, don't freak out, but I'm right behind you.**

Peter and Jessica wait with baited breath as Michelle reads the text calmly, followed by Michelle falling out of her chair in surprise when she turns around to see them waving at her, despite Peter's warning. "Shush it's me! I told you not to freak out!"

It's easy to see why Michelle was drowning out the with music, because Peter and Jessica can hear the extremely present sounds of Michelle's parents yelling at one another downstairs as she opens the window to talk with them as they stay on the wall using on their hands to stabilize themselves. "Peter, what they hell are you doing out here like this?! There's no fire escape!"

"I'm Spider-Man, remember?" Peter's remark is followed by an all too confident smile as if the personality of his alter ego is bleeding through for a moment, causing Michelle to give a faint giggle before Jessica nudges him to get on to the task at hand and that confidence melts away when face to face with a pretty girl. "Right... I came here to ask if you wanted to go on a date with me?... It doesn't have to a big dinner or movie date, it can just be the two of us having pizza and doing homework at my aunt's house. Do you know my aunt? She was apart of the group of parents that collected us off the bus after the D.C incident."

Michelle nods knowingly, giving a look as she takes Peter's offer under consideration, then she looks at Jessica. "Did you put him up to this, Spider-Woman?"

Jessica shrugs. "Maybe, he did convince to ask my girlfriend on a date as well, so I thought I'd return the favour. Besides, Peter's spoken very highly of you, and it isn't hard to see why upon seeing you in person."

"Okay, a simple date, from a week next Friday." Michelle can see Peter about cheer out loud in excitement, but she is able silence him by kissing his cheek. "I want nothing more, understand? Now, go, I have homework."

She quickly shuts the window on them, causing Peter and Jessica to look at another right before they continue their run up the building to the roof, where Jessica wraps her arms around Peter as he shoots a web-line acting as a bungee rope to make sure they arrive at Jessica's motorcycle safely in one fluid motion, then they share a smile of accomplishment as Jessica mounts the motorcycle with something on her mind. "Now that our business squared away, tell me about the supervillain who turned out to be your homecoming date's dad."

Peter chuckles, holding onto Jessica for support as he mounts the motorcycle behind her. "That's one way of putting things. Okay, my first supervillain fight happened after I went to Germany and fought Captain America, so I was still pretty green around the gills..."

* * *

"This isn't funny anymore, my friend. Please, give it to me!" The events of Jessica's life have never been dull or slow, such as the life of a secret agent. On a good day, she would say that she is able to deal a hectic world with a swift and calm hand, on a bad day like today, Jessica finds herself in nothing more than a couple of bath towels in her hair and wrapped around her body as she squats on the floor of her flat screaming at her alien cat. "Come on, mate. I have a date with Carol in an hour and you just ate her gift, GIVE ME THE BLOODY BOXSET

Chewie still doesn't cough it up. Instead, he remains sat on the floor with a frankly absurdly smug expression for a cat, only scurrying away to his food bowl when a knock is heard at Jessica's door, and she sighs upon standing to answer it, feeling as if this fight is a glimpse of what could happen with her future child. "Fine, off you go, young man. We'll discuss this later."

She knows it isn't Carol at the door, as they're supposed to meet at a high-end steakhouse Tony is paying for, and Peter said he was stopping by to wish Jessica luck on her date and ask for any last minute tips for his own, but she never excepted him to appear in a mascot costume of a tiger with Midtown Tech printed on his blue and yellow basketball jersey.

Jessica immediately covers her mouth to hide her laugh, but it's no use, as Peter can already see the tears of mirth welling in her eyes. "Wow, Jehovah's Witnesses are really stepping up their recruiting efforts." 

Peter laughs mockingly, stepping inside and closing the door before Jessica grabs her phone off the counter to snap a couple of pictures. "Ha, ha, get your jokes and pictures now before I switch out of this costume, everyone I met on the way over here already has." He removes the mascot head and wipe the thick layer of sweat away to see Jessica grinning mischievously as she types on her phone. "Hey! What are you doing? You better not be sending that to the rest of the Avengers!"

He tries grabbing the phone out of her hand, but Jessica keeps it out of his reach with her superior height until a chime sounds to signify the picture being sent, then she goes to her bedroom to dress herself out of Peter's view, still speaking to him through the slightly opened door. "Relax, I'm only sending it to Carol, and she might not see it, given her limited exposure to new technology.  What's with the sudden costume, change Tiger?"

As Peter removes his school backpack and sits down on the couch for a moment to relax right next to Jessica's laptop while it's open on a page requiring her SHIELD ID, he feels the same sense of accomplishment that Jessica no doubt feel as well, because she has expertly put everything in its proper place throughout her cozy townhouse apartment since they went their separate ways last week, but Jessica's triumph doesn't dissuade Peter from voicing his own troubles. "Blame Johnny Storm and the rest of Fantastic Four. They have been celebrities from the moment they came back, and Reed and Susan, and Ben thought it was a good idea to send Johnny back to school at Midtown Tech since he missed the last fifty years of world history, art, and science. So I'm working extra hard to get into college using my wits and by applying for as many scholarships as I can while he just coast by on his popularity. Being the school's mascot is the only sport scholarship I can apply for without people becoming suspicious about my powers."

"Mascot tryouts ran longer than expected after school and most of the place was locked by the time I was done, so I couldn't change my clothes before I had to leave, meaning I had to walk around in public like this since I can't go home yet." He groans in annoyance upon hearing Jessica giggle in the bedroom. "Yeah, laugh it up, I'm also appearing in the fall musical to qualify for some arts scholarships if you want more comedy gold."

"You'll give it 100 percent like everything you try, I know you will." Jessica walks out of her bedroom looking absolutely flawless for her upcoming date, her long, silky black hair has been blow-dried and fluffed into loose waves, complimented by the old reliable burgundy red dress she wore to Tony's engagement party, the same dress that she was wearing the night she fell for Carol in, and Carol fell for her in return, the same dress that's currently leaving Peter speechless. "Huh, that was Carol's reaction, too. Now, tell me why you can't go home and change."

Peter's reaction to Jessica one of discomfort and embarrassment, looking at his shoes to try avoiding the topic. "Apparently, May and Tony's friend, Happy Hogan have been low key seeing each other since we came back from the snap. to be clear, I have no problem with May dating, I'm happy she's choosing to move on after my uncle's death, it's just strange seeing her without Ben when that's the only person I've seen her be romantically involved with, and it's super weird seeing her with Tony's friend, so I avoid them whenever they're together at home, which is why I'm here now and why I have to cancel on Michelle."

Jessica's eyes widen when she sees what Peter is trying to work his phone as he still wears the mascot costume, so she grabs one of Peter's Web-Shooters from his backpack, then she takes device from his hands and throws it in the air before firing a web to stick it in the corner of the room near the ceiling out of his reach. "No, you're not canceling on her with hours notice, not after all the effort we exerted in trying to get you two together on a date, God only knows when you'll be able to do that again. Do you have your clothes?"

Peter nods in response, his eyes shifting to his backpack, leading Jessica to help him take the tiger hands off so he can unzip it and show her the spare clothes inside before she opens a drawer in her kitchen to present Peter with a house key. "You can shower and change in the loo after I leave, and the key is so you will have a place for your date. Now, text Michelle to inform her of the change in plans, and don't say I never did anything for you."

She sees Peter's face go the gambit of emotions once he's presented with a key. Confusion and surprise at the gesture, uncertainty of he's ready for the responsibility to have a key to a home that isn't his own, finally, gratitude, which he shows Jessica by running for to hug her suddenly. "No need to thank me like this, just make sure my trust in you isn't misplaced by the good kid I know you are. There are some ground rules, though."

"One, always call ahead before coming over. Two, this might not a problem for you, but no crazy teen parties if you housesit for me. Three, if you order food tonight or any other night, please get a menu for the place, I'm trying to reestablish a network of restaurants since moving here. And, four..." Jessica trails off, separting from Peter to pick up Chewie after he's finished eating and hand him over. "Chewie is a special kind of cat, the second he isn't respected, he will he eat you or your science project, speaking from experience here, Pete. That being said, I want you to see what you can temp out of his stomach while I'm away."

"That's too bad, buddy, did you eat something you shouldn't have?" He asks Chewie, petting his stomach to give him comfort before addressing Jessica as she grabs her keys and purse before opening the front door in preparation to leave for her date. "What did he eat? Some lint or bad cat food?"

Jessica shakes her head, quietly chuckling to herself, closing her laptop in a a hidden compart in her room before returning to say goodbye to Peter. "Nothing like that, more like my portable handheld speaker, a Star Trek TOS boxset, my year six science project, and the SHIELD dossier on your parents. Honestly, Flerkens can be a crafty lot when your not looking, so keep an eye on him. Call me if you need anything, but try not to need me tonight, I'm already pretty stressed as it is. Goodnight and good luck, Parker."

The rushed nature of Jessica's exit makes Peter wonder if there's something more to Chewie than she's letting on, and he swears a slimly tentacle slips back in his mouth before Peter leans through the open threshold of the front door to ask Jessica a question as she sprints down the hall. "What the hell is a Flerken?"

No response from Jessica, maybe she just pretended as if she didn't hear him, so he closes the door in suspicion of Chewie as he places the cat on the floor and gives him a ball of yarn to play with from Jessica's knitting basket on the couch while he goes into the bathroom to prepare for his own date. Once the door closes and the shower begins, Chew, then he unlocks his jaw and allows the tentacles inside of him to consume the yarn ball in its entirety before reassuming the appearance of a normal ginger cat, as if nothing happened at all and he eyes a new target in the form of the hutch holding Nick's Chinaware.

Peter's suspicions aren't subsided over the half hour it takes him to get dressed and order Chinese food, combined with his own fear over this date, has him hoping Michelle likes his jeans and rolled sleeve sweater combo for being sophisticated without trying too hard as he hears Michelle knock at the door and he makes the table is set properly for dinner while he walks over to answer it with a genuine smile, despite his hands shaking as Peter grabs the door knob.

 "Hey." He says in a smooth and aloof tone upon greeting Michelle, hoping he wasn't too smooth as not to give the impression like he doesn't care about her or this date.

"Hey, yourself, Peter." She matches his tone and sophisticated, yet casual appearance in a simple white flowing dress with a jean jacket to cover her shoulders and arms. Both teens stay frozen where they are, letting awkwardness set in between them without Jessica to offer topics of conversation, until Michelle spots Chewie saunter behind Peter, and the food steaming on the table. "Are you gonna let me? I want to meet your cat."

Peter nods shakily, stepping aside and allowing Michelle to enter, where she picks up Chewie and gives a bevy of kisses down his head and back as Peter closes the door. "That's Chewie, Jessica and Carol's cat, they own this place together, or at least Jessica is hoping for by end of the night. She's on a date now, so we'll be alone to do whatever, watch Jessica's vast collection of movies and Tv, or-"

Michelle cuts him off by slapping a collection of flashcards on the table once she has sat down and begun digging into the eggrolls, deflating Peter's excitement. "Or flashcards, if that's your idea of fun. Do you always carry them with you?"

"Yes. It's my responsibility as Decathlon Captain to make sure the team is ready for our next competition whenever an opportunity comes up, and you've been slacking, Parker." Peter opens his mouth to give an excuse, but Michelle decisively cuts him off with a wave of the hand. "Being Spider-Man isn't an excuse, but I'm not here to place blame. I have a proposition."

Peter relaxes and grows intrigued as Michelle continues, her hand slowly inching towards his. "After dinner, we stand in opposite ends of the room as I quiz and each time you get a question correct, we move closer to one another until we reach the couch in the middle of the room, and who knows what could happen then?" She asks the question right as one of her fingers interlocks with Peter's in such a way that she dares him to go further.

It doesn't take a genius to understand what Michelle is doing, but he doesn't pull away, not by a long shot. "Why, Ms. Jones, you're trying to seduce me into learning. Let's do it."

Across the city, Jessica taps her foot on the pavement outside of the restaurant not because Carol is late or anything, but because Jessica is still trying to gain a frim grasp of how she is going to tell Carol of her pregnancy when she's trying to do the same for herself. It isn't like she became pregnant by a stranger after a one night stand, no, Jessica chose this course to have a peaceful life for herself and her child, she sincerely hopes Carol will choose to have a place in that life in order to make it the brightest life Jessica imagines, but the obnoxious aroma of the large flower bouquet in her hand is making her extremely nauseous.

Like always in Jessica's fantasies, Carol soon comes to her rescue once she lands on the sidewalk and greets Jessica with a totally unashamed kiss on the lips while still in her StarForce uniform, and it soon appears how in sync Carol and Jessica are as the blonde woman is wearing her old sparkly blue dress underneath her uniform when it recedes within her thanks to a Stark upgrade, causing Jessica to smile in appreciation of her girlfriend's fashion choice as she hands over the bouquet with another kiss to Carol's cheek. "These are for you. I would've given you something else, if you Chewie hadn't eaten it first."

Carol smiles as she takes in the bouquet's heavenly scent before glances at Jessica's expression of discomfort without realizing it's because of the flowers, but it still worries her, so she places both of her hands on Jessica's cheeks and tries to Jessica to smile with her own. "I'm not late, am I? I didn't want to keep you waiting."

Jessica shakes her head, kissing Carol's hand sweetly while it's still on her cheek. "You're right on time, my mind is just clouded with too many thoughts, but I'll tell all about it in good time. Shall we go inside?" Carol nods, and Jessica places an arm around her from behind, then she holds the restaurant door open for her before taking lead with the host at the front. "Hello, we have an 8:00 P.M. reservation. It should be under Drew or Danvers."

The host looks down at his datebook for confirmation, then grabs two menus and gestures into the greater restaurant. "If you ladies will please follow me..."

Walking through the restaurant, Jessica feels tense with its overly cleansed, black tie aesthetic and spacious seating between the end of each table when she hoped for something more intimate to tell Carol her news, at least the lighting is dim so no one can clearly spot her crying if this goes south.

Her thoughts are quieted once Jessica arrives their table, and she tries to match Carol's smile as they sit in their chairs, but Carol has her suspicions about Jessica once their waiter comes to get their drink order while he presents a wine bottle to them. "Evening, ladies, Mr. Stark has already flipped the bill for the entire meal, so feel free to order whatever you like. Can I interest you in some wine? This 2010 vintage is my favorite."

"Just water for me, thank you." Jessica says, causing Carol to raise an eyebrow as the waiter fills her wine glass, then departs after they each order the same simple spaghetti and salad course, giving the lovers a chance to talk alone.

Finally, Jessica feels the mounting pressure to come clean, but knowing that fact doesn't make it any easier until Carol reaches out to into their fingers in the middle of the table, so Jessica takes another deep eyes and looks Carol in the eyes as if she can see their future together. "Carol, what I'm about to say may come as a shock, but I want a chance to explain my wonderful news before you reject me for it. I'm-" 

"Jess, stop me a moment, please. I know what you're going to say, Peter already told me." Jessica clenches her fist in anger at Carol's remark when Jessica told Peter the secret of her new place in confidence, and Carol tries holding her hand to calm her down. "Don't blame him, he is just have you close to him with your new place and it slipped out while we were training this week. It's part of the reason why I wanted to go with dinner with you, because I wanted to know if I can move in with you?"

Jessica blinks in shock of the question because she truly wasn't expecting it, but she still nods happily regardless. "Of course you can, I bought my place with you in mind, and I was hoping we would achieve this step in our relationship one day. What's with the sudden change in your life, has Vision's lack of boundaries finally gotten to you?"

Carol nods. "I also lost my apartment in LA a long time ago, apparently my landlord was super pissed when I fucked off into space and fought aliens for 22 years without paying rent, and the Avengers Compound is great, but it's far from homey with Vison walking through walls. I've always felt at home with you on the other hand."

"I'm glad, especially since I feel exactly the same about you." Jessica  leans across the table and Carol meets her halfway with a soft, lingering, and passionate kiss. A troubled expression dawns on Jessica's face as they slowly separate from one another and return to their chairs. "By any chance, did Peter mention that anything else was going on with me?"

A raised eyebrow returns to Carol's face. "No, why? Is there something else?"

"Yes, there is, and I want you to keep an open mind once I tell you this, because I'm-"

"Excuse me, Ms. Danvers?" Jessica is interrupted yet again and she is about to completely go off on whoever is unlucky enough to do so, only for the person to be a young Arabic teen girl wearing a hijab and looking very nervous as she holds her phone in shaky hands while her parents stand behind her. "Hi, I won't take up much of your time since you're a date, but my name is Kamala Khan, and I've been you're number one fan since I saw you snap that purple guy out of existence on the news. I was wondering if I could have a picture with you before leaving?"

"Of course you can, Kamala. I'd be happy to take a picture with my number one fan, so long as my girlfriend appears in it as well." Carol gives Jessica a sympathetic expression when she is met by a deeply pained face from Jessica as she prefers to be alone in the background instead of front and center before a camera, forcing Carol to give her puppy dog eyes until she relents with a heavy sigh, then Carol nods at Kamala to come closer.

"Who are you?" Kamala asks Jessica, handing her phone to her mom before moving close to Carol in such a way that it blocks Jessica from the camera's view until she moves her head between the other two and gives her most convincing fake smile for the picture. 

"I'm Spider-Woman." Jessica hates the words as soon as they leave her mouth, she hates them even more when Kamala asks if Jessica is inspired by Spider-Man. God, she has to come up a proper superhero name if she's going to be seen saving the world with the Avengers, maybe Peter will help her come up with a name soon as Jessica wonders if his night is going better than hers.

Miles away in Jessica's apartment, Chewie looks inquisitively up the two teenagers asleep on his couch while tons of multicolored flashcards litter the floor around them. Chewie pounces upon the windowsill and looks outside to see a dark figure quickly approaching the flat underneath the cover of the night, so the cat hops down and goes to Peter to scratch at the pants on his leg in hopes of rousing him in time.

Peter only slightly stirs while Michelle continues sleeping on his shoulder, forcing Chewie to turn towards the window ready to face the cat burglar with courage despite his side as she lands on the window and cuts a small hole in the glass to slip her through and grasp the latch upward, opening the window to give herself an entrance into Jessica's place and her valuables within.

The cat burglar locks eyes with her animal namesake, giving the feline a daring smirk telling Chewie that she is going to loot the place while Peter and Michelle sleep meters away, only the Tv and hutch cabinet have disappeared from the living room without so much as a trace when the items were so prevalent a mere week ago, just leaving Chewie in their wake.

The burglar groans in frustration when she was hoping to have snatched the china from the hutch most of all to nit herself a pretty penny, but without the items, this whole break in has almost been pointless, if wasn't for the lovely couple sleeping on the couch. She removes a handgun from her backpack and decides to point it at Peter as he appears the cutest and most vulnerable, he'll definitely roll over easily and give her everything if threatened.

Peter's Spider-Sense wake him with a jolt, and he instinctively kicks the gun out of the burglar's hand towards the front door, then he kicks the coffee table in front of him further outward in order to trip the assailant up as he vaults the couch and the kitchen island while holding a barely conscious Michelle after she hasn't had to wake up properly. 

"Wha-what the hell is happening, Peter? Why are you on top of me on the kitchen floor?" Michelle asks, waking up enough to form complete sentences and wonder why she was hearing the sound of gunshots when she thought she was having a bad dream.

"Honestly, I'm trying to figure that out myself. Stay here where it's safe, I'm gonna see what she wants." Peter sighs, peeking around the island to see the burglar walking over to pick up her gun by the door, and he knows it will be tougher to subdue her without his Web-Shooters, but maybe he can distract her long enough to get them from his backpack, starting with Peter standing with his hands raised in surrender. "Look at me, I'm a target!... Now that I've told you who I am, who are you, and what do want?"

"Oh, honey, you really are cute if you think you stand a chance against me. The name's Black Cat, and if it wasn't apparent by my B&E, I'm here to rob you." Black Cat's eyes focus on Peter for a moment as she is greatly impressed by his courage, before her expression becomes cold. "Where is your Tv and chinaware? They were here when I cased the place last week, and things that valuable don't just vanish into thin air!"

Peter has a puzzled expression as he looks around the place, but he is shocked to see the items have disappeared just as Black Cat said when he could've sworn he and Michelle had fallen asleep in front of the Tv watching the latest Simon Williams movie. The confusion remains in his mind until Chewie saunters in between them and hisses at the sliver-haired she-devil.

"Oh, no. Chewie, tell me you didn't eat what I think you ate?"

Instantly, Peter and Black Cat know what happened to the items and where they are now, so the both dive for Chewie, but he is able to slip through both of their grasp and cause them to bonk their heads together, then fall to the floor as Chewie pounces to the open window ledge and hops out into the greater world. Peter quickly stands and runs to the window to see that Chewie has grappled to the roof across the street using his alien tentacles, and Peter prepares to jump after him until Black Cat blocks his path outside before she uses his momentum against him by grabbing his arm and flinging him over her head, through the window outside to fall in street below. Escaping from this dire situation without his Web-Shooters is going to be tough if he didn't remember Jessica's impactful lesson.

In a matter of seconds, Peter is able to quiet his racing thoughts and stick one of his hands on the outside brick of the building before he crashes to the street, he regrets not using both hands because he feels his shoulder quickly pop out and back into its socket as he stands sideways on the outside brick of the building and begins sprinting upward, reaching Jessica's apartment just as Black Cat leaps out of the window after Chewie, so Peter fully detaches himself from the wall and throws himself at her in the hopes of catching her foot at the last second, but he is soon met with the hard brick wall of the building across the street while he watches Black Cat land safely on the roof above him and scoop Chewie in her arms with a villainous smirk returning to her face as she and the cat slip from Peter's grasp.

Michelle runs to the window as soon the commotion dies down, and her pulse quickens once she sees Peter struggle to climb the roof across the street after excerting so much energy beforehand as she calls out to him. "Peter! Are you okay? What do you me to do?" 

"Call... J-Jess..."

Back at the restaurant, Carol reads the clear uneasiness on Jessica's face as their main course is delivered to the table and can tell the secret Jessica has been keeping has also been eating at her all night long so much so that she spots Jessica reach for her wine before resending her hand entirely, so Carol speaks in a low tone, trying not agitate her further. "I can see something is bothering, so what's on your mind? This is a safe place and you can tell me anything."

Jessica's expression is one of sweet relief once Carol takes her hand again, and she knows this time will be it as she works up the courage to speak. "Carol, please remember all the things I said before still applies, and come hell or high water, I'm gonna say my piece. I'm-"

The third interruption comes not from Carol or a nice fangirl, but Jessica's phone itself, and she tries quelling her anger upon opening her purse and realizing it's Peter voice calling, only for that rage to dissipate completely when she's with Michelle's face as she puts the phone on speaker. "I wasn't expecting you call, Michelle, especially when I'm about to bare my soul here. Where's Peter?" 

"Peter's indisposed right now after your place has been broken into, and the burglar took Chewie to see what she valuables she could get out of him." 

"WHO STOLE MY FLERKEN CAT?!" Carol demands, her voice filled with rage as her clenched fists are radiating with photon energy.

While Carol continues fluming in the background, Jessica picks up the phone and takes it off speaker to get down to business. "First and foremost, are you and Peter okay? Did the burglar hurt you two?"

Michelle responds by showing that Peter has come back inside and moved to the couch, and he gives Jessica a small thumbs up before Michelle turns the phone back on herself. "Peter tried to stop the robbery and got a face full of brick for his trouble, he'll be out for next half hour or so thanks to a new player named Black Cat, but I'm amusing you two will go after her. What do you want me to do to help?"

Jessica gives a grateful smile, quickly finding a kindred sprit in Michelle and her no nonsense demeaner.  "Please send Peter my way as soon as he's able, I'll text the address. For now, please go into my bedroom and move over the trunk at the foot of my bed, underneath, you'll need to remove some loose floorboards hiding a SHIELD strongbox with a keypad, enter: 77-54-91, and you'll find what Peter and I need to after go this Black Cat. You'll also find my laptop, enter the same number into the SHIELD Database program and find anything you can on this woman."

She listens to Michelle repeat her ID code over and over in the time it takes her to find and open the strongbox to see Jessica's laptop, a black Spider-Man suit, and a red and yellow female body suit, complete with a cowl and bandana to cover the entire head. "What is all this stuff?" Michelle asks, curiously examining Peter's black mask with the familiar white Spidey eyes.

"State of the art SHIELD stealth tech, a simple black suit for Peter, and an extremely tight invisible camouflage suit for me. It may leave little to the imagination in my regard, but it'll get the job done for what we must do. Please have Peter suit up as soon as he regains sense."

Michelle nods. "Understood, is there anything else you want me to tell him?"

"Yes." Jessica smiles with dangerous purpose. "Tell him, we're going hunting."

Carol and Jessica develop a tense silence as they wait for Peter and Michelle to arrive at the restaurant, neither of them feel the need to talk about themselves when Chewie's life hangs in the balance, so they're left with only the sparse sounds of their utensils hitting their plates as they pick up food to eat until Carol decides to break that silence by speaking in a whisper. "Jess, now that we're alone again, what you want to tell me?"

She winces at the expression of instant fear on Jessica's face as the black-haired beauty debates with herself whether to say her secret now and give it the required weight it entails when her mind is so clearly somewhere else. Like Carol, Jessica is fluming with guilt over Peter and Chewie's current predicament, while Peter would profess that the break in was random and he can take care of himself, Chewie is a different story. Chewie may be an extraterrestrial with unknown abilities, but he still has the same limitations of a normal cat, and if Jessica can't take care of a cat, then she has no fucking clue how to care for a baby.

Luckily, reprieve from that question comes in the form of a text from Peter saying he and Michelle are on the roof of the restaurant, so Jessica stands up and leave like a bat out of hell and leaving Carol helpless except to follow her as fresh breadsticks are brought to the table, but not before stuffing a few into her purse. Upon running through the front door, Carol follows Jessica's gaze to the roof where Peter is waiting in full stealth costume.

She knows Jessica is looking for a quick path up there without revealing her abilities to the public, so Carol tosses her breadstick purse to her girlfriend before picking her up bridal style, immediately catching Jessica by surprise, who giggles with a greatly delighted smile as Carol speaks up. "You okay to do this?"

"Yeah, I'm just finally living out my fantasy, you?" Jessica's cheeks blush as she asks the question, and Carol kisses her cheek before gently flying upward fast enough to cause both of their hearts to race in mix of excitement and love in such a way the she wants to do this again upon taking off. Jessica's only regret is that it's over far too quickly, but she takes care to reach for Carol's hand once she's back on her feet and they begin walking towards Peter and Michelle. "We should definitely do that again very soon."

"You say when and where, and I'd love to show you a whole new world."

"Pete, you look worse for wear, you okay, kid?" Jessica asks, noting Peter's expression of devastated exhaustion upon removing his mask.

Peter simply shakes his head as he launches into an apologetic ramble. "No, Jess, I'm the farthest from okay you can be right now. Someone broke into your place, I was thrown through a window, you cat was stolen, who I'm starting to believe wasn't a cat at all after he ate your stuff, and did I mention that I was thrown through a window because I've still got glass in my hair!"

Jessica responds with a comforting hand on Peter's shoulder while she picks glass from his hair with her other hand. "Hey, take a deep breath, windows can be replaced easily, and we're going to get Chewie back after we're done here. Just tell me who took him, where they are, and how hard to hit them."

Michelle takes the opportunity to present Jessica with her stealth suit from a black shopping bag, which she puts on over her red dress as Michelle explains the info she's found. "Apparently, the name Black Cat has history behind it. The first Cat was Walter Hardy, a career cat burglar, who first popped up 1979 and was active for ten years until he had to go on the run from the cops, his wife and their infant daughter when they found his hideout of stolen goods in an abandoned subway station that closed in 1945 near City Hall in Manhattan. It stands to reason that it's where the now adult daughter would be hiding with a loot of her own."

"Perhaps there's a way to know for sure. Peter, remember when I told you Chewie swallowed my portable speaker?" Jessica asks, and Peter nods, not truly understanding her thought until she explains further. "Well, the speaker is connected to play music from my phone via Bluetooth, and the speaker is also enabled with GPS, which means I can do this..."

Once Jessica has changed into her invisibility suit, she removes her phone from her purse and actives the speaker's Bluetooth signal, along with its GPS signal that shows up on her cowl's HUD as a simple red dot among Manhattan's forgotten underground near City Hall. Jessica studies the location before sending the info to Peter's phone as well. "Nice work, Ms. Jones. Chewie's location seems to be in an abandoned City Hall terminal, just as you theorized."   

"Then, that's where the three of us need to go." Carol says, showing a determined look when her face is lit with photon energy from her fist, catching Jessica and Peter off guard as they prepare to jump off the roof using Peter's Web-Shooters before Jessica takes a moment to speak with her in a soft whisper.

"Care Bear, listen to me. I love you so much, you are my person, but you're also a bull in a china shop, which is wonderful against someone like Thanos, but not so much in a stealth operation." Carol responds to the words with an intense pout, which Jessica quickly removes with a bevy of kisses to lips until she gives a tiny smile once more. "Going after this woman is nothing Peter and I can't handle by ourselves in spades, and there has to be someone who helps Michelle off this roof and looks after her when we're gone. Besides, she's been going full fangirl for you ever since we flew up here."

They look to Michelle standing beside Peter, and like Kamala in the restaurant, Michelle's eyes gaze at Carol and squeals with glee when she believes no one is looking, her only distraction comes once Peter hands over his phone to her. "MJ, I doubt Jess and I will have much of a signal down, besides the speaker itself, so I need you to be my girl in the chair and say if we're on the right track to Chewie."

She nods before both Peter and Jessica kiss their perspective partners, then prepare to jump off the roof once more with Carol's warning ringing in their ears. "Be careful, you two, and Jessica, try not to kill anyone."

"No promises, Love. I'll be at our home in a few hours with a some new bruises and ready to tell my secret." Jessica simply smiles and Carol before leaping off the backside of the roof with Peter by her side. Her smile is quickly transferred to him as she speaks, "Now it's up to us to make sure we live to see the sunrise."

After the world's most awkward train ride full of constant murmurs, quick glances, auditable gasps, and blinding camera flashes from the other passengers, Jessica gently nudges Peter awake from sleeping on her shoulder once the conductor announces that they've reached the end of the line over the train's onboard speaker.

While the abandoned City Hall station has became more of a tourist attraction in the decades since its closing, all of the people have left the terminal due to the late hour of night, so the superpowered Spider-Pair freely hop the turnstiles with Jessica taking the lead to keep Peter safe once they reach a rusted over service door that leads to a labyrinth of hidden tunnels as Michelle speaks over comms and reads the holographic map while staying with Carol in Central Park a block from the restaurant. "Okay, Black Cat's hideout looks to be not far beyond this service door, just keeping going west and you'll soon find Chewie."

Peter soon points to the grate to an air vent that they could fit through if it wasn't for Jessica's growing stomach as a result of her being pregnant for some time, which leads the boy to rip the grate and crawl through the vent himself, but he takes a moment to look around the tunnel on the other side before jimmying the door open for Jessica. 

Walking through the door is like stepping into an post apocalypse scenario. Instead of the hidden tunnel being pristine and well maintained, the metal rails are covered in layer of rust, the bricks on the wall are covered in grime, if they haven't fallen out of the wall entirely, what few trains remain, are covered in graffiti throughout the tunnel that time forgot.

"This places looks to be minutes away from coming down on top of us, so we need book it out of here as soon as possible after grabbing Chewie." A wave of cold shivers down Peter and he moves towards Jessica for warmth as she looks at her phone for a signal. "Any luck?"

She nods, showing Peter how they're represented on the phone as a blue dot sending a pulse out towards the red dot representing Chewie, and the pulse quickens in speed with each step they take closer to the speaker in the cat's stomach. "Yes, we should be at the hideout momentarily. Since speaker is still connected to my phone and if hasn't been degusted yet, that means I can play a song from my playlist to psych Black Cat out enough to let Chewie go unharmed without a punch thrown or drop of blood spilt."

"That's genius, Jess. So genius that I wish I thought of it." The sincerity of Peter's words causes Jessica to crack a sly smile as the boy's curiosity about his secretive friend is peaked once more. "Tell me, what music does the mysterious Jessica Drew listen to when she isn't saving the world or being Ms. Super Spy?"

Jessica chuckles, her head shifting from left to right as she the matter some thought. "Mostly, today's indie music, 90's and early 2000's grunge and rock, and 60's pop. Nick basically inherited all of the Beatles vinyl record collection from his parents, so I've listened to every song on their albums at least five times by now." She smiles, looking down at her phone when the red and blue dots converge on one another and turn purple to tell her that they've arrived at the hideout. "And I know the exact song to play now..."

Using a selection of quick hand signals and Peter reading Jessica's lips, the pair find hiding spots in the darkened central hub for a large disused train as it sits on the rusted out track switching mechanism that goes back and forth between two tunnels. Jessica quickly engages her invisibility suit and silently jumps down on the train's foggy window to see what's inside.

Whoever this Black Cat is, she certainly has a taste for the finer things in life and her train car apartment is no different, as Jessica can see a few pieces of luxury furniture to make the place feel more homey, high end stolen paintings line the walls and celling to give the steel gray place more color, flat screens and DVD players are hooked to a portable generator so she can all the entertainment she could ever want. And, at the center of everything is Black Cat herself, stroking Chewie in her lap like some kind of James Bond villain, trying to learn what his secret is and what she can coax out of him.

Jessica flumes when she spots her cat in Black Cat's devilish hands, but she manages to restrain herself long enough to scroll through her playlist in search of one song in particular. Suddenly, Let It Be by the Beatles begins playing from within Chewie's stomach, slowly at first as the song builds to the first chorus, causing Black Cat to hold Chewie to her ear to be sure of what she's hearing, then Jessica raises the volume to full blast, which forces the woman to drop the cat and clutch her ears in pain as Chewie lands safely on his feet.

As Jessica continues tooling with her opponent, Peter is looking around the area for a quick exit if the need arises and he spots what appears to be a trail of brown packages all stuck to the ceiling going east along the tunnels with a strange blinking lights in the center of each package. It's only on closer inspection, does he realize what they are and the explosive power they posses. "Um, Jess, I was right about this place being ready to come down. Black Cat has this place wired to blow any second, grab Chewie and let's get the hell out of Dodge!"

"Don't worry, kid. I'll be with you momentarily." No longer playing around, Jessica has no regard for the paintings as she kicks in the window and takes a fighting stance to take on Black Cat by herself while Chewie recognizes one of his true mothers and moves behind Jessica. "Do you know who I am? I'm the woman who's home you broke into tonight. The one woman you truly should not have fucked with, and you did that when you stole my cat! Now I'm here to take him back and you into the police as well, Ms. Hardy."

Black Cat shows no emotion upon hearing her true last name spoken for the first time in a long time, in fact, she has a smirk on her face as she walks backwards and slowly reaches out for a cell phone on the table, her smirk growing once she presses a button in the center of the device. "Oh, and I'm a woman with a detonator. Enjoying burning, lady."

Peter's pulse quickens well beyond normal limits once he spots the bombs are set to go off in one minute, and he hopes his quick movements will give him enough time to outrun death itself as he shoots a web to a metal beam while diving from his perch to himself the right amount of force to kick in another window of disused train.

Knowing it's only a matter of time, and knowing Black will put up a fight if she's followed, Peter quickly grabs ahold of Jessica and Chewie and Web-swings back in the way he originally came in, he tries not to scream at Michelle over comms while also allowing Black Cat to escape down the tunnel in other direction. "MJ, Black Cat has bombs set to go off in 30 seconds and I need to know how to get to the nearest subway terminal, and Carol to meet me there to contain the blast, or we're going to be toast soon."

"The next terminal is three blocks away in your current direction." Carol picks Michelle underneath her arms as soon as the words leave the girl's mouth, nearly causing her to be sick while she talks with Peter and Jessica, and Carol reads the direction off of Peter's phone. "Are you two going to make out of the tunnel in time?"

"I'll get back to you... probably." It's all Peter offers in terms of an explanation, which brings Michelle no comfort as she can hear the distant rumble of massive explosion over comms. Peter makes the almost fatal mistake of looking at the dragon-like fireball chasing him while his tight hold on Jessica and Chewie remain, he's never been Web-Swinging this continuously for so long at a single moment and every muscle in his body is screaming at him to stop and rest just for a single minute, but he must push himself to go even faster than he ever thought possible, especially when he feels a few tiny embers strike a the back of his mask and the sounds of the tunnel quickly collapsing on his heels.

Finally, Peter reaches the terminal Michelle described, only for him and Jessica to do a sideways wall run on the windows of an oncoming train before Peter creates a web sling shot to shoot the two of them up the terminal's stairs and onto the sidewalk above just Carol drops Michelle in front of them, then files at supersonic speeds down the stairs to protect the innocent citizens still standing on platform below from the collapsing tunnel and dastardly fireball threating to scorch all of them in a mere matter of seconds.

"Everyone, stand behind me!" Carol announces in a booming, authoritative tone, giving the bystanders a chance to follow her direction as she jumps on the tracks between the quickly advancing train and the collapsing tunnel in front of her before she raises both hands at her sides to create two forcefields of photon energy to dead stop the objects from colliding with one another and causing harm to the pedestrians caught in the crossfire.

She smiles and waves at the cameras of the people surrounding her as she does a silent headcount to make sure no one is hurt, then she gives a final word and files up the stairs again to meet her heart's most spectacular  and special desire.  "I'm so sorry to cut and run, folks, but I've got a date, and I wouldn't want to keep her waiting much longer."

"Are you guys really okay?" Carol overhears Michelle ask Peter and Michelle as the three sit together on a nearby bench back on the sidewalk, the girl wears deep concern on her face as she examines Peter's face while fresh air returns to his lungs. "No burns, cuts, or bruises?"

Jessica nods, playfully bumping shoulders with Peter. "We're alive and well, despite my anger getting the better of me, and it's thanks to you, Pete. Thank you for getting all of us out of there in time, and softening my landing when we landed on the sidewalk. You saved us." She says the words as she continues caressing Chewie, but Peter knows she means the baby growing inside of her as well. "I only wish were able to catch Black Cat and return her stolen goods before they went up in smoke, but she'll turn up to steal another day and we'll catch her then, easy-peasy."

"How can you honestly say that so easily after what you just went through?!" Carol snaps, her voice breaking with a mixture of anger and fear as tears beginning welling in her eyes. "I can't believe you're being so coy after she almost killed you and Peter, I almost lost you!"

Jessica sighs, knowing it's time to come clean as she stands and taking Carol's hands in hers. "I can be coy because Peter saved me and gave me another chance to say what I've spent all night trying to tell you. Carol Danvers, I'm pregnant!"

The world around them seems to freeze in place that one could hear a pin drop among the busy New York sidewalk, even Carol's tears have dried on her face as her mouth is agape in sudden shock, and it's beginning to freak Jessica out so much that she must say something in order to break the silence. "Just so this news doesn't end our relationship, there is no father because the pregnancy is artificial insemination. So, yeah, please still love me."

Carol still doesn't react, her face is still frozen until Michelle turns to Peter, knowing the other couple need time alone. "Peter, wanna swing me home?"

"Sure do." He says quickly without missing a beat.

The couple remain silent on the bench a long minute after Peter and Michelle swing away, and Jessica's fear over Carol's unresponsiveness quickly turns to anger when she reaches out for her frozen hand and gets no reaction in return, causing Jessica to finally snap with a twinge of sadness in her tone. "Jesus Christ, Carol!... Care Bear, please say something, anything."

"Jessica Drew, will you please do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Regret hangs in the air around Carol as soon the question leaves her mouth, she knows now isn't the time for a marriage proposal, and certainly not the hasty nature of her tone. Honestly, she wouldn't blame for Jessica for storming off, but she hopes that her girlfriend will recognize her sincerity hidden beneath as she watches Jessica let out a huff anger and prepare to walk away, but not before giving Carol a piece of her mind.

"I cannot believe what you just said to me! Especially since I've wanted to marry you since the night of Tony's engagement. Contrary to popular belief, I do have some standards, and I won't be proposed to quickly on a street corner at because you feel that my baby need to be taken care of, I want to be proposed to when I love someone completely and they feel the exact same about me. I thought that someone was you, but perhaps we need to rethink our relationship if you feel differently. Goodbye, Ms. Danvers!"

"Wait, Please, Jess!" Carol quickly runs in the way of Jessica's path as she walks away with Chewie, and she sees that it her hurt Jessica to say those words as much as it hurt Carol to hear them, so Carol must repair the damage between them while she still can. "Please give a chance to explain my actions and propose to you the way you deserve because the sentiment of my words is true, as is my love for you, and we're too good together to throw everything away."

Jessica nods in agreement, not wanting to throw their relationship away either, but she doesn't look Carol in the eye as they return to sit at the bench and the blonde woman take a deep breath before speaking. "What words can I say here in this moment when you have already said the perfect ones earlier tonight. You're my person, Jessica Drew, I love you."

"I missed you like crazy when I was in space establishing Alpha Flight, I would spend my nights looking up at the stars and dreaming of you and everything I hoped we would do together when I returned. Do you want to know what I dreamt of? I dreamt of how we would have a perfect home together with a humongous bed that we would lounge the day away in if we wanted to, spending our mornings at the table holding hands over breakfast,  kissing each other before work every day and how we would tell one another of our days upon coming home, cooking dinner and cleaning house together, holding your hand as we read in bed together every night before sleeping, and most of all, I want fall asleep with you in my arms every night and wake up beside you every morning."

Smiles slowly forms of both of their faces as Carol reaches her conclusion. "In short, I dreamt of a life with you as your wife, Jessica, and I hope you will be my wife to make my dream come true. I want to be your wife in every single aspect of life, including loving and raising children, if you'll have me."

Jessica responds by looking wistfully into the distance as a way to throw Carol off of her thoughts, even though her mind is already made and allows Carol to know them upon kissing her suddenly and with such passion that it causes their cheeks to blush furiously as Jessica nearly falls down on top of her while they remain on the bench. "Of I course I will marry you, I always will, I was just waiting for you to prove that you love me as much as I do you. That being said, this isn't too weird for you, dropping all of this pregnancy news on you at once."

"Not as weird as you think. I mean, we already share a cat and an angry one-eyed man, and now an apartment. I knew it was a matter of time before one of us thought about bringing kids into the mix because that's how the type of love we have grows. Speaking of Chewie, I should show you coax how to coax things out of him if we're going to move in together."

She takes Chewie in her arms and turns him on his back to trace a finger down his head, past his nose and neck all the way to his tummy, where she tickles him quickly and decisively with a handful of her photon energy before letting go of him on the sidewalk so he can barf up the contents of his extra-dimensional stomach. First to come is Jessica's Tv, then Nick's china cabinet, followed by a yarn ball, and lastly, the Star Trek TOS boxset. Jessica has an absolutely horrified expression because as long she's known Chewie and his alien ways, she has never seen him barf something back up before, but Chewie refuses to let her keep her face for long as he hops across Carol and Jessica's laps and looks up at them with his cute kitty face.

While they will carry most of the heavy things home soon, it's a small item which catches her eye the most. "Is this new? I didn't know you were much of a Trekie." She says, showing off the boxset when she knows Jessica is the furthest from a hardcore sci-fi fan.

Jessica moves her head down to hide her embarrassment before regaining her hardened exterior, but with a soft smile. "Honestly, I'm not, but I remember you telling me you're a huge fan at breakfast the morning after we first slept together, and I know it's been a while since you saw the entire series with you being in space so much. Now, he can watch it together in the comfort of our home."

"Oh, to show how excited I am to watch the series with you, I took a 'Which TOS Character Are You?' quiz online, and as it turns, I'm Commander Spock. I don't see it all, but maybe you will." Jessica tries to appear as stone-faced and logically as possible, only to come off as robotic before breaking into a cute duck face to make Carol giggle because she could listen to her giggle for the rest of the night.

Carol wipes tears of mirth from her eyes as he giggle dies down. "Peter had me take the same quiz when were resting from training last week, and I turned out to be Captain Kirk myself, which makes sense because who really is a Starfleet Captain without the guidance and aid of a First Officer?" Carol and Jessica seem to glimpse a future together in each other's eyes before they go in for one last kiss with their foreheads stay connected once they eventually separate for air. "Love you, Spock."

"Love you too, Kirk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel as if I should clear the air around Carol and Jessica's ginger cat. Yes, his name is Chewie and not Goose like it is in the Captain Marvel movie, mostly because didn't know the cat's true name when I wrote the first chapter so was going off the cat's comic book based name.

**Author's Note:**

> When I was choosing Jessica's age for the story, I based it on Brie Larson's actual age of 29 because I think that'll be her age in the Captain Marvel movie and Avengers 4, so I wanted Jessica to be the same age. I didn't assign an ethnicity to Jessica because I don't think that needs to be apart of her character, but if I had a gun to my head, I would like to see Jessica as a British Indian woman in the MCU and I would cast either Mandip Gill (One of the new companions on Doctor Who) as my first choice or Naomi Scott (The Pink Power Ranger from the reboot movie) as my second, but that's just me. I'd love to everyone else's thoughts on the casting in the comments.


End file.
